Word: chirac
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...Think again. Though most leftists were pleased to see Sarkozy squirm during the international press storm his reported swipes at fellow leaders set off, few approved of Royal's apology on behalf of a nation that had said "no thanks" to her offer to lead it. (Read "Mon Dieu! Chirac More Popular Than Sarkozy...
...turned out to be relatively kind words. Sarkozy said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been reluctantly forced by economic realities to copy his own policies for dealing with the recession. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said the French President, was simply "not very clever." (Read why Jacques Chirac is more popular than Sarkozy...
Abroad, Sarkozy upended Chirac's policies by trading in the traditional Franco-German partnership for closer ties to London. He also reached out to the internationally loathed and isolated George W. Bush, adopting the role of an adoring and trustworthy French friend. Sarkozy's group-hug address to the U.S. Congress in November 2007 was nothing short of a smash, as he waved off Chirac-era disputes over Iraq for references to America's sacrifice in World War II to promise "whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France...
...irritating it must have been for Sarkozy to read French press reports last month that revealed Bush's successor Obama had written a private letter to Chirac ahead of the London G-20 summit. In it, Obama tells Chirac he anticipates their chances to "collaborate together in a spirit of peace and friendship in order to build a safer world." Most French pundits interpret the letter as Obama giving Chirac credit for correctly opposing the Iraq war as a looming strategic and diplomatic calamity - a position Obama shared. According to French press reports, Sarkozy was livid at seeing the star...
...comes Chirac's poll triumph. Little wonder Sarkozy-backers are feeling catty. Culture Minister Christine Albanel sought to explain away Chirac's rising poll numbers and Sarkozy's dropping appeal by saying that the former president "was always very likeable, and today is rather a grandfather figure for everyone". Conservative senator Philippe Marini, meanwhile, noted that "people are always looking back to paradise lost, even if it never was paradise." Hissss...