Letters to the Editor
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No lap dog
Sarkozy is totally untrustworthy, but he is no lap dog. His comments on Iran's right to nuclear energy - uttered in the US - should make clear where he stands. War on Iran would be disastrous for him, since it would force him to choose between his personal admiration for the US and his domestic ambitions, notably, the breaking of the labour unions. And don't forget Lebanon, which is probably France's foremost concern as regards the Iranian question.
My guess is that he hopes that his tightrope act will give him a place at the negotiating table, where he could with luck extract less Iranian meddling in Lebanese affairs. But his perpetual need to trumpet every little success to the world may make it hard to invite him to secret talks.
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Arsene is, well, an Arse and Hans B should have gotten the Star
Yes, Mr. Arse, Sarkozy did get some of Le Pen's votes, but he also received a wide share of the far left, too. Why? Because he's damned smart and played on a whole range of people's fears. He won by a broad margin for a French election. Apparently, you know very little about that election and Sarkozy's tactics. I was there the whole time it happened. I saw the debates. I even saw Les Guignoles making fun of Sarkozy and Segolene. And unlike the mouth-breather on this comment section who simply frothed about Iran, Je parle francais. If you think Sarkozy won simply because he "sucked up" to the far right, you're wrong. He "sucked up" to everybody! Only a rabid leftist would prattle on as you have. Not that there's anything wrong with being a rabid leftist, but we saw plenty of them in Paris weeping on TV saying they were ashamed to be French that night after the election. But they weren't that widespread. Over 60% of the country was dancing. France wants to work and make money after seven years of recession. That's the main reason why Sarkozy got elected.
What Hans B said was very good, and I wish I'd made that point but I was distracted once again by rampant ignorance. And notice that the Editor's Choice went to the simple bastard who just mimicked what the article said without any insight. They don't have to give Editor's Choice stars. This one purposely went to the uncritical letter that had zero real insight and only passable writing. Honestly, Salon, if your insight into European politics is this lopsided, I'd hate to think what you're publishing about the Middle East.
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French Recession
Its okay for Sarkozy to love American, but worshiping the American free market model is another thing. That model has been proven to be a faliure and hopefully after the next election it will be replaced by something that more closely resembles the French model that Sarkozy is trying to dismantle. The economic drawbacks of the French welfare state have been exagerated and a lot of the exageration is caused by misuse of economic statistics. Although worker productivity per person is lower in France then in the United States but when you factor lower percentage of the French population in the workforce and a lower average number of hours worked by French workers compared to American workers then the French worker productivity per hour is slightly higher in France then in the United States. The rate of employment in France among workers between the age of 25 and 54 is the same as in the United States. The relatively high unemployment among young people in France is partly caused by the higher percentage of young who stay in school and because of free university education and financial support French students usually concentrate on their studies rather then get a job. You can read about this in Paul Krugman's new book Conscience of a Liberal. Here is an article by liberal economist Mark Weisbrot about economic statistics that distort the picture of the French economy. http://www.cepr.net/content/view/1147/45/