"Ah yes, Herr Schroeder...all I can say is, Go Merkel!"
Actually the "No" vote is just another futile attempt of the french to stop Europe and the European Union from changing. The french didn't like the constitutional treaty for two reasons:
1.) It isn't socialist enough.
2.) It mirrors France's loss of power within Europe. When Chirac tried to discipline the new members once by recommending them to "shut up", he still thought France could decide the course of the European Union. Well, surprise, it can't. That time's passed.
But to all those in the U.S. that think the E.U.'s gonna fail: Don't hold your breath for it. The after-effects of WWI and WWII will still matter for the next 100-200 years, meaning: Cooperation for the European nations is always preferable to confrontation. The EU will continue to exist in one form or another, but maybe (hopefully IMHO) it will change to a leaner, meaner union, that will be able to successfully promote the common interests of the European nations (mainly trade and the common market) while not infringing on the prerogatives of the nation states. And in that sense a chancellor Merkel wouldn't be a bad thing.
Are you German?
From all I have seen, it lost because a significant number of French citizens do not want to allow non-French people to be able to work and take away jobs from French people. Since the EU Constitution basically allows open migration of citizens within the EU including working, the French saw this as a threat to their economic livelihood.
And some people are against it because they want to show Chirac that they don't like what his policies have done to their economy. These people will expect more socialism, even though more conservative economic policy is their only long-term hope out of the mess they are in (lower taxes, greatly reduced labor regulations, lower spending, more personal responsibility).
A common market and a pan-European democratic mechanism to negotiate the rules is a good thing. A loose confederation which allows for common trade rules and reasonably free movement of people and goods is one element of preventing devastation in Europe again.
But a ludicrous, Orwellian screed written up by freak Leftists in Brussels desperate to impose Socialism cum Multiculturalism is an anti-European nightmare. It wasn't a "Constitution", but the terms of surrender to a lumbering slave state at the hands of embittered Communists, angry at the loss of the Soviet Union and the possibility that they might not get to confiscate the entire land mass of Europe for their own control.
As far as the French go, every one of them that I spoke with in the last month said the same thing: "Turkey". There were certainly other reasons, but that was the one that came out most often.
Maybe the French want to stay French. Whoda thought it.