Letter From Paris
Paris Kiosque - April 2008 - Volume 15, Number 4
Copyright © 2008 Harriet Welty-Rochefort - Used with permission.
IS SARKOZY CRAZY ? SARKOZY EST-IL FOU ?
No, I kid you not. « Is Sarkozy crazy » is a question the French
people (well, some French people) are asking about their President whose
popularity has fallen to the ground with a thud only months after his triumphal
election.
Of course Presidents always face the danger of unpopularity but with Nicolas
Sarkozy it's different. The French people are not only
questioning his ability to make promised reforms - but they are
questioning his very psyche.
Should he not take a trip to the shrink is in effect the question of the day. Indeed
the matter of his mental make-up was the object of an entire one
page article in the prestigious daily newspaper, Le Monde and the cover
of the weekly magazine Marianne which overtly popped the question :
Sarkozy, Est-Il Fou ? It's as if the New
York Times published an entire page on George Bush's
psyche (now there's an idea...).
Basically, both the people who elected him and those who didn't
are asking why Sarkozy, who wanted the Supreme Job so badly and did
everything to get it, immediately started sabotaging himself right, left, and
center.
The French people, whether they are conservatives or socialists or in between,
are used to a regalian Presidency (think De Gaulle, Valéry Giscard
d'Estaing, even Socialist François Mitterrand.) All these
presidents - even former President Jacques Chirac who was less
formal and more in the « nice guy » mode, brought a certain
amount of gravitas to the task. Used to Presidents who act like ... well,
Presidents, the French are having a whale of a time wrapping their minds around
the spectacle of a President who embodies absolutely everything a President
shouldn't be and does everything a President
shouldn't do.
For the French, a President, in the face of an irate citizen who refused to shake
his hand, shouldn't respond, like Sarkzoy did, with a « get
out of here, you little jerk » (and that's a polite
translation). A President should be above the fray.
A President shouldn't look like a Mafia don with his Ray Ban
sunglasses and a President shouldn't put his private life on
display. The late President François Mitterrand had one of the most
spectacularly spellbinding private lives ever as the head of two separate families
and a daughter no one knew he had - but he kept his private life
... private. Rumors swelled about the various mistresses of other French
presidents but they remained rumors. Admittedly Sarkozy said he
wouldn't model himself on his predecessors. He announced
from the get-go that whatever he did, and that included his personal
life, would be public - but no one expected how juicy it would get
- and how overwhelming. Even the normally tolerant French are
now simply fagged out by the President's romantic antics.
Just when everyone was getting thoroughly fed up with hearing the ins and outs
of his tumultuous private life, Sarkozy strolled up to a microphone at a press
conference and made the biggest booboo of all : After vigorously campaigning
on the promise to better the ordinary French person's lifestyle, he
pugnaciously proferred that « I can't do anything about the
rising cost of living « the coffers are empty» !
The French might have forgiven him all the rest of what they call the bling bling
factor but with the ever increasing price of food and groceries and rent that lone
remark did it. He blew it ! Down he went in the polls.
And the questions about What Is Going On In The President's
Mind began.
Even before his election, one well-known psychiatrist had qualified
Sarkozy as a « pervers narcissique » (narcissistic pervert). Another
went even further, calling him a « psychopath ».
But there's worse ! The President is a mind snatcher ! A
professor of psychopathology in Marseille told Le Monde that the
President has so invaded the public scene that patients even bring up his name
when on the couch ! « ... Sometimes, » mused the
professor, « it seems like the French didn't elect a
President, they elected a subject of conversation. »
There's only one good thing in all this. There's
nothing worse than indifference. Sarkozy can be thankful that when it comes to
him, in the mind of the mind-snatched French,
that's definitely not the case.
Harriet Welty Rochefort is the author of
French Toast: An American in
Paris Ce
leb
rates the Maddening Mysteries of the French and French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris.
French Toast was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "wise and devastatingly
funny". For world-famous chef Alain Ducasse, her second book French Fried
"in a lively and hilarious style ... gives an inside look at the world of
French cuisine and wine." Both books are published by St. Martin's Press.
She is currently working on her third book about the French.
Coming to Paris? Harriet gives
tailormade wine and cheese tastings to individuals as well as to university
groups. For more information, visit her webpages:
www.frenchfolio.com and
www.understandfrance.com .
If you've had some funny, startling, satisfying, or dismaying
food experiences in France you'd like to share,
you may contact Harriet directly at
harriet.welty@hwelty.com.
Editor's Note:
Dear Readers, while our writers are always
delighted to hear and to receive comments, both about their columns in the The Paris Kiosque,
as well as your experiences in Paris,
they are unable to answer requests for travel information.
Thank you for your understanding.
Museum Passes