Word: rationalism
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...storm of controversy continued to rage on Monday, after Royal revealed that she'd written to Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to apologize for the "insulting" comments Sarkozy purportedly made about the Spanish leader last week. On April 16, French daily Libération reported that Sarkozy had described Zapatero as "not very clever" during lunch with a group of legislators the previous day. According to the paper, he also made belittling comments about U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, landing himself in the middle of an embarrassing international press frenzy. Addressing Sarkozy...
That's exactly what happened this week when French daily Libération revealed that Sarkozy had delivered some astonishingly unflattering comments about several foreign officials - including American President Barack Obama. During a lunch with a group of French legislators Wednesday, Sarkozy reportedly described Obama as inexperienced, ill-prepared by advisers, and thus far "not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency." And those 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...
According to Libération, parliamentarians at the meeting said Sarkozy had described the new U.S. president as having "a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic, but he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry." On matters like Europe's efforts to fight global warming and in his call for a world free of nuclear arms, Sarkozy apparently said Obama...
Sarkozy also suggested that Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi's multiple elections wins is proof of his greatness. "What is important in democracy is to be re-elected," Libération cited Sarkozy as saying, a phrase unlikely to join "fraternité, égalité et liberté" as a description of French democratic ideals...
...reports from abroad frequently contained condemnations similar to the Times of London's description of Sarkozy as a "bitchy little princess". Spain's ABC said Sarkozy's behavior confirmed frequent complaints in France that his "superiority complex has no limits." By midday Friday, the global coverage of Libération's report had come full circle, with French media like the daily Le Monde running stories about "The Arrogant Sarkozy Fingered By the International Press...