Happier
days: Presidents Obama and Sarkozy in July, 2008.
Le Figaro, France
Presidents Obama and Sarkozy: 'I Love You ... Me Neither'
"After
a year spent trying to attract the attention of his American counterpart, the
French president seems to have resigned himself. To hell with his dream of a
shock duo at the forefront of the world: he who was spurned is discovering the
pleasures of multilateralism."
A honeymoon had been
announced. A year ago, Nicolas Sarkozy didn't hide his satisfaction at seeing
Barack Obama become his American counterpart. The French president proclaimed
his "haste" to get to work "changing the world" with what
he then thought was his alter ego, at least in terms of popularity and public
service. The "Obamania" that so enervated Europe and France finally brought
his stated Atlantism back into style. "Nicolas Sarkozy, the most pro-American
of French presidents in half a century" and "Barack Obama, the most
popular American leader in France for generations," is how the Financial
Times summarized it in December, 2008.
Their first meeting was in
September, 2006. In Washington, he who was only French minister of the interior
met with he who was then only a senator from Illinois. "That one will go
far!" exclaimed Nicolas Sarkozy after leaving his office. Two years later,
in July 2008, it was President Sarkozy who received candidate Obama at Elysée. [see video below] At the time
they displayed a great bond, with the American even permitting himself a dash
of humor about the legendary "energy" of the French president. "He's
my buddy," said the latter.
OBAMA-SARKOZY PRESS CONFERENCE IN PARIS, JULY 25, 2008
Alas, after Barack Obama arrived
at the White House in January 2009, he didn't keep all of his promises to the
French, as they quickly collided with the the freshly-elected leader's distance.
Their first telephone contact didn't occur as quickly as first anticipated and,
above all, despite his insistence, Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t have the honor of
being the first chief of state to be received by President Obama, who preferred
Gordon Brown. In March,
the U.S. president even pushed the affront by addressing a letter to … Jacques
Chirac, in which Obama said he was certain that they would be able to
collaborate, "in a spirit of peace and friendship in order to build a
safer world"! [Sarkozy and former President Chirac were fierce rivals]. So
a series of small humiliations weighed on the first months of the Sarkozy-Obama
couple, feeding rumors of a breech. Their first rather cold contact, which came
during the G20 in London in April 2009, did nothing to pacify these.
At the same time, another "Sarkozy-Obama
summit" was attracting the spotlight. This one, more cordial, was of the
two first ladies who were vying for popularity [see video below].
If the two ladies seemed to
agree, the personalities of their husbands proved very different. Commentaries highlighted
a growing contrast between the two men, the small and the large, the nervous
and the calm, the spontaneous and the reflective. In a Hollywoodish metaphor,
Newsweek would compare Nicolas Sarkozy to the "diminutive
tough-guy, actor Joe Pesci -all twitches and attitude - playing opposite Denzel
Washington, all dignity and reserve." For the American magazine, there was
no doubt that Sarkozy suffered from an "Obama complex." In an effort
to silence the gossip, they made a show of their accord at their first one-on-one
meeting in Strasbourg the day after the G20 in April 2009.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
But beyond issues of ego, several
subjects undermine relations between the two presidents. The economic crisis
initially revealed profound differences. The French president, who sought to be
at the forefront of combating the crisis, hasn't spared the United States where,
he has repeated, the crisis began. To remedy it, he proposed an overhaul of the
global financial system and wanted to legislate it. Barack Obama wouldn't hear
of this, preferring that Europe concentrate on stimulus. A number of other
international issues also increased the friction. In the Middle East, Obama is
sticking to his own timetable and hardly appreciates the disjointed initiatives
of the French. In return, Sarkozy hasn't adhered to the outstretched-hand held
out by the Americans with regard to Iran. At Caen in June, where Barack Obama
came to celebrate the old Franco-American friendship on the occasion of the
anniversary of D-Day, it was Turkey that was under debate. Nicolas Sarkozy then
politely reminded Obama that a decision on Turkey's eventual integration into
the European Union didn't belong to him.
After Caen, there was the December
2009 summit in Copenhagen. Barack Obama, true to his vision
of the world, once again hardly turned to Europe, notably preferring a dialogue
with China. This time, Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to depart from his "Obama
obsession," turning instead toward Brazil and the African countries. After
a year spent trying to attract the attention of his American counterpart who looked
elsewhere, the French president seems to have resigned himself. To hell with his
dream of a shock duo at the forefront of the world: he who was spurned is
discovering the pleasures of multilateralism.
