Sarkozy in Washington: Seeing France Through a Weakened President

On the sidelines of his meeting with Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy thought to deliver messages of optimism to a France that disapproves of him: the reform continues and the household is happy. Our correspondent in Washington reports.

It is the norm that a French president should never express himself regarding internal affairs while abroad. However, reality has become more complex. Nicolas Sarkozy is in the United States to discuss financial regulation, climate and terrorism with Barack Obama, but his actions reveal other subliminal messages to a France which sanctioned him in the polls.

No, he did not give up on reforming the country. While his own camp urges him to ease off on many subjects in order to focus on pensions, or even to pull back on his fiscal shield, the head of state found himself in New York on Monday talking about his reform plans that led to his election in 2007. “And changing is tough, it upsets routines, it causes concern. But a statesman’s duty is to pursue change when it’s necessary. Basically, I think when a politician is elected, he’s only traveled a tenth of his/her route . . . political leaders . . . must be like CEOs, judged by the results of what we do,” he said to students of Columbia University. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy smiled during his speech. While at the platform, he was thrilled by the sight of her and of their famous Franco-Italian marriage. Hand in hand, they walked away, and hand in hand they subsequently went to the French Institute, as though it was only her who was supposed to be there. Walks, tender gestures and smiles for photographers before a private dinner with the Obamas, two years after their wedding, were ways Nicolas Sarkozy was determined to present an image of a perfect couple in New York. This is not the true case — far from it — with his relationship, according to the press.

Distant from the French Media

Although he had planned to participate, yesterday afternoon, at a joint press conference with Barack Obama in the format usually provided for such meetings (two questions from the American press, two questions from the French press), the French president clearly avoided the French political media at the event. No informal meeting with journalists was held prior to the conference, as he may sometimes do when traveling. Most meetings have taken place behind closed doors. Nicolas Sarkozy met American editorial writers for an hour on Monday afternoon, without extending the invitation to their French counterparts, who waited in the rain until the end of the gathering, hoping that American journalists would share a few sentences of the valuable interview. However, the U.S. interviewers did no such thing.