Posted on 01/03/2010 11:10:43 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has gone cold on his US counterpart Barack Obama, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday.
Sarkozy, whose pro-Washington stance has seen him nicknamed "Sarko the American," stressed that France and the US were "the same family" during his first face-to-face meeting with Obama in April since the US elections last year.
But the French president has clashed since then with his US counterpart on a series of issues, raising the question of whether Sarkozy is reverting to the anti-US posture of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.
"He has now shifted from a pro-Bush position to an anti-Obama position," the FT quoted Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, international affairs spokesman for the opposition Socialists, as saying.
Obama's irritation with his French counterpart began when Sarkozy tried to grab the limelight at the G20 summit in London in April and talked condescendingly of the US President in private.
Sarkozy told colleagues that he found Obama to be inexperienced and unbriefed, especially on climate change, according to The Times of London.
In September, the French president expressed his frustration over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions and the priority that Obama attaches to the long-term goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. The French government also refused a US request to send more troops to Afghanistan, while several other European allies are planning to do so.
The French press often publishes Sarkozy's unflattering comments about Obama's lack of prior government experience, his alleged difficulty in reaching decisions or his domestic electoral setbacks.
"The paradox of the situation is that in terms of the relationship with the US, he can do a Chirac in that he can criticize the Americans but he can do it from a position that is 180 degrees different from Chirac," the FT quoted François Heisbourg, an adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research, a Paris-based think tank, as saying.
"He can play to a habitual anti-American standpoint but not from a position that is fundamentally anti-American," he added.
Hi Manc, yes, I have seen it. In fact I downloaded it because I assumed it would disappear. Happy New Year!
Plus, compared to zero’s choice, Sarko has a smokin’ wife. Because of his decision-making skills alone, I defer to Sarko.
LOL! I never thought I'd agree with the French, but I agree with Sarkozy on this.
agreed, but at least we didn’t get subjected to 8 yrs of Ter-ay-za Heinz Kerry...... that would have been agony beyond description.......
Bingo. Sarko ain't no conservative and he ain't no role model. Sure he's "right-wing" by French standards, but Hillary Clinton is probably "right-wing" on the French political spectrum too. What they call right-wing vs. left-wing is apparently far-left wing vs. far-far-left wing over here (think Nancy Pelosi vs. Cindy Sheehan). Maybe some U.S. conservatives are happy a Pelosi type is running France instead of a Sheehan type, but not me. There are conservative leaders in Europe, and Sarko ain't one of them. Check out Czech President Václav Klaus is you want to see a genuine conservative voice the world should listen to. >>>
Soon after Barack Obama won the White House, French President Nicolas Sarkozy referred to him as “my friend” and strove to become the first European leader to meet with the newly elected American. Now the honeymoon between the two leaders is over, according to The Financial Times. <<
That what freepers seem to forget, that Sarko is one of the Euro weenies that were useful idiots for the mainstream media's goal of electing Obama in the first place. Sarko publicly urged Americans to elect Hussein and claimed it would "vindicate" his pro-US outreach. He made it very clear that he wanted Hussein to win that election -- "conservative" Nicholas Sarkozy wouldn't be caught dead supporting someone like Sarah Palin. The mainstream media loved all the European Obama worship, they could pressure Americans into believing that the whole planet would love us once we elected Hussein. I have no sympathy for these Euro twits like Sarko and Gordon Brown who fawned over Obama and have now soured on him. They wanted the empty suit marxist, and they got him.
>>> But Sarko is a big improvement over Chirac. <<
I would have to disagree with that. Aside from his smokin' hot slutty wife and his superfiscal "I love America" dog and pony show (oooooh Sarko vacations here!), I see very little difference in actual concrete policy. The french "conservatives" are still adamantly pro-abortion, pro-gay, gun-grabbing, tree-hugging, UN/EU-worshipping, surrender monkey, big government statists, which tells me they're as much our "friend" as Mexico's allegedly "conservative" politicians are. As usual, Sarko talks tough while his nation fall aparts and Muslims ring in the new year by setting Paris on fire. This guy isn't respected by his fellow Western european leaders, let alone being considered for "leader of the free world". What a scary thought.
Maybe her feet hurt.
I doubt Sarkozy would make the same observations and remarks about Palin.
I agree with all of that and it isn’t helpful. zero has created a situation that would be ridiculous if it wasn’t so serious .
But, except for Sarkozy, Euro leaders treated Bush rather poorly so I can’t say, except in Sarkozy’s case, that snubbing those leaders bothers me much on a personal level. Obviously, on a national security level, this is at best precarious and at worst downright dangerous.
The bottom line is that you can’t lead when your peers think you’re a moron.
Oh please, FREEPERS on here hated France BIG TIME while Bush was Preaident. I don’t believe the French had much love for us either.
Lol - an anti-Obama position is NOT the same thing as an anti-US position. It’s still weird to me that France is now a more conservative country than the US is.
> agreed, but at least we didn’t get subjected to 8 yrs
> of Ter-ay-za Heinz Kerry...... that would have been
> agony beyond description.......
I’d trade the 0s for them in a second.
ain’t that the truth
So much for “improving” America’s relations with our allies.
Yeah, but aunt Esther went to the right church!
Yes, I agree. When Bush went to Europe the first time, the only guy to treat him politely was Putin. And Tony Blair understood, even if his party and the British press did not, that the Special Relationship was too important to kick away. So he at least pretended to be polite.
But to be realistic, the Europeans have always treated us with envy and contempt. At the same time, they assumed that they were entitled to our admiration in return, so this must be a big shock to them.
In the long run, this might be a lesson to them, although regretably they may be past learning any such lessons. But as long as Obama remains in office, things will be increasingly difficult and cooperation will dwindle.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called for a national “carbon tax” on global-warming pollutants and a European levy on imports from countries outside the Kyoto Protocol.
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