Nicolas and Carla get married

"Franchement, ça ne fait pas sérieux", my companion said after the phone interrupted our Saturday lunch with the day's big news.  Nicolas Sarkozy, 53, President of France, has this morning married Carla Bruni, 39, the singer-model whom he met in November, a month after his wife left him.

My friend's words sum up the common French reaction to Sarko and his romance on the rebound. The mood of the country is bleak at the moment. The morale of households has sunk to its lowest level for 20 years, according to a poll last week. Sarkozy is perceived -- unfairly -- as a disappointment because he has failed to make everyone better off nine months after his election. His ratings have crashed to around 45 percent support. So there is little rejoicing over the news that the just-divorced president has rushed to marry a beautiful celeb with a sulphurous reputation.

You get the flavour from the profile of France's new first lady which has just been put out by Agence France-Presse, the state news agency. Within three sentences it cited her prodigious roll call of past conquests, ranging from Sir Mick Jagger to French politicians, and then it quoted her saying: "I'm a she-cat, an Italian. I get totally bored in a monogamous relationship." AFP also noted that "she has a son, Aurélien, now six, with Raphael Enthoven, a professor of philosophy, who was himself the son of the publisher Jean-Paul Enthoven, with whom she was living before that." 

Sarkozy's entourage hope that the marriage, conducted on the first floor of the Elysée Palace by the mayor of the eighth arrondissement, will put an end to the president's disastrous playboy phase, which began when he presented Ms Bruni to France from Disneyland Paris in early December. Public opinion took a bleak view of his exhibition of his companion on trips to Egypt and Jordan, their exchange of expensive gifts and his love-struck announcement of their idyll at a palace press conference last month.

Sarkozy is said to be unconvinced that his "bling bling" personal life has contributed to his unpopularity. He puts the slide down to disappointment with the economy and his failure to perform miracles. That is no doubt the biggest factor, but you only have to listen to the chatter in cafes and work places, to know that Sarko's rushed romance has not endeared him to his citizens. It has earned him ridicule that will take time to erase.                

   

Comments

[azloon]

vegas is quoting even odds of this lasting a year

[Blendi Progri]

hallelujah.
__________

…so lets wait for the odds (timeframe-wise), that (soon) my learned friends will give on how long This will last! ;)

[Daisy]

As if this couldn't get better, another report says that one of the witnesses to the wedding was Mathilde Agostinelli...who is/was one of Cecilia's best friends!! He really is trying to re-create Cecilia. You can't make this stuff up, can you?

[John Gregory Flinn]

This man is starting to remind me more and more of John Major, Britain's prime minister before Blair.
He refuses to face up to problems of his own making and blames everyone or everything else.

Well, at least we can send the couple congratulations and wish them every happiness.

[phoebehertzog]

Rien à Signaler
Ca c'est fait
Et Alors
So many sentances come to mind , I gave up caring long ago.

[Dominique]

"Sarkozy is said to be unconvinced that his "bling bling" personal life has contributed to his unpopularity. He puts the slide down to disappointment with the economy and his failure to perform miracles".

Well, sarko is wrong (as often). I don't know anyone who believed the problems France is facing would be solved in 9 months! Even those who voted for him knew it wouldn't be quick. Only Sarko bashers believe that he is not fullfilling promesses they were the only ones to hear.

The decrease of his popularity is clearly linked to the Bruni's monaco style bling bling vulgar presidency. The rest is phantasy.

Sarko will have to face even bigger problems with Bruni : she said she didn't like the french...(see Wikipedia or other references) Can you imagine a first lady, racist toward the people her husband is leading? A chinese first lady saying "i don't like the chineese" or an american first lady claiming "i don't like the americans"?

She was three years old when she arrived in France, her family did left Italia for safety reasons, France was therefore their "terre d'asile". She made her studies here, was succesfull only in France, popular, famous in France only. Her family is succesfull here with her sister being one of the most succesfull actress....but...she probably believes she deserves better... Go for it girl! and give us a break!

That is so much a typical elitist arrogant style of the elite looking down at people saying : "i don't like them". I can't even understand how Sarko did fell into this trap!

I am afraid Sarko will have to face that issue one day...

Will Carla Bruni become "the Italian" just like Marie Antoinette became "the Austrian"? Time will tell. But don't blame the french...

Ah ça ira ça ira ça ira, les aristocrates à la lanterne....

[Joan Arles]

Good luck to Sarko. Maybe people change, but with a track record as lurid as Bruni's, I wouldn't bet on a long future. Still, she's richer than he is, so he needn't worry about being taken to the cleaners when the music stops.

[Paul]

Now thats over and done with, back to work Mr Sarkozy, "Le pouvoir d'achat" needs you...

[Christine]

If I may correct you: Sarkozy is not perceived as a disappointment because he "failed to make everyone better off nine months after his election". It is because he declared that the "pouvoir d'achat", main theme of his campagne, was not really important and that anyhow there was nothing he could about it. As we put in french, "l'arroseur arrosé"...

[Rocket]

http://www.liberation.fr/rebonds/305765.FR.php

gotta admit I agree. Hold on France The show has just begun.

[Sterling]

One thing that really struck me about the wedding today (besides its insane precipitousness) was that Mathilde Agostinelli was a witness for the president. Having known Mathilde quite well for 11 years I can tell you with 100% certainty that until very recently she and Mr Sarkozy had never met. So one of the witnesses at Mr Sarkozy wedding was, in effect, only a step above a stranger.

[Dominique]

Rocket,

I did read Liberation's rebond. I did tend to believe that it was Serge Hefez who did suffer from Sarkoze obsessionnelle

[azloon]

Rocket:

this piece from 'liberation' discusses sarkozy in terms taken from the "DSM", a generally accepted international reference for diagnosis of mental disorders. narcissism, nervous tics, delusions of grandeur, though i didn't see any mention of bi-polar disorder which was the diagnosis this blog conferred upon him.

is this the level of discussion of le president in france today? that NS is genuinely disturbed, that france may actually have a 'nut case' in the Elysee?

le pauvre Charles, sitting at lunch after laboring over a saturday piece about legion d'honneur conferees, and he gets a phone call that sarko is married. is there no end to this drama? what is it? five years or six?

oh, btw, the 'liberation' piece indicates the term of office may be irrelevant. it suggests that NS may self-destruct before the end of his term.

don't count on it.

this guy is the energizer bunny. he keeps going, and going and going and going............

[Daniel Strohl]

Rocket,

Thanks for the "Libération" link. However, I didn't manage to read the article up to the end.

One sees interviews of psychiatrists from time to time on TV. Some of them seem to be quite normal and balanced persons, some of them could (almost) be exchanged with their patients - I tend to believe that the Libération "expert" belongs to the second category - LOL!

And he seems to recruit his patients at the (former) Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire, where himself has been trained .)

More seriously, I am not sure wether the bulk of his colleagues are pleased with this type of pseudo-scientific literature, even if it is meant to be funny (?).

[Valentin]

The daily Liberation, as well as Marianne magazine have a long history of portraying Sarkozy as a madman, a danger, a dictator in making, a far right (ie fascist).
Indeed that's the level of discussion - *their* level.

He's an energizer bunny Azloon, but for "knowing" him as well as you do Obama, I can tell you they have much more in common than it might be suspected.

[Daniel Strohl]

Dominique,

Honestly, did you manage to read the article of Dr. Hefez up to the end ?

Si oui, chapeau ! On vous décerne la médaille de la résistance !

Azloon,

"is this the level of discussion of le president in france today ?"

Of course not. It is however the level in a few "milieux de gauche".
It is a mixture of hatred and stupidity and glee.

"this guy is the energizer bunny."
We have got a similar ad here - very funny !

"which was the diagnosis this blog conferred upon him".

Azloon, we have got a few Dr.Diafoirus on the blog - LOL!
(Dr.Diafoirus is a character of "Le Malade Imaginaire" de Molière).

[christopher muir]

One day, Sarkozy will tell his wife that enough is enough. Having heard “Quelq’un m’a dit” for the two thousandth time will surely exhaust his patience... However, for any amateur psychologists searching for clues about palace moods, a quote by a Canadian performer (Terri Clark) is quite helpful. "Artists who write songs... what they're going through usually comes through in their music. “ I wonder if Sarko's thought about the possibility of coded lyrics.

[Terry]

I must say, the picture showing Sarko and his new bride wearing black in the desert is rather unfashionable. I have been to the pyramids and NO ONE wore black. Is this the new bedouian look?

The noire euro chic look has no place in Egypt. I think white or your standard khaki would have been more appropriate for the sands of Giza.

Then again, I wear sweater vests.

[Emlyn]

I see a great deal of hypocrisy and maybe jealousy too from the present very promiscuous society: there are thousands of young women who sleep around as easily, if not more so, than Carla Sarkozy.

[qwerty]

About the problem with the French buying power that Sarkozy is accused of not dealing with, apart from saying "let them work harder":

I know that the price of basic food products has gone up because of new consumers in emerging markets, and that the rent level is really scandalous in France (but more so in all other developed countries...).

But apart from that, has it really degraded that much or is it that the consumer pattern is changing and the French now want to buy things that weren't even on the market a few years ago? Mobile phones, i-pods, flat screens, HD... These are luxury goods, aren't they? We're spoiled, aren't we?

[Emlyn]

Is the rent level really scandalous in France? A one-bedroom flat in Bromley (Greater London) will cost at least £600 per month.

[millier marc]

its a great new!!!!!
J'attends la suite avec impatience
et ils eurent de beaux bébés.!!

[dot king]

There you go, all of you, straight into Sarko-bashing - my mother would have joined in, calling it a "hole and corner wedding" and saying that she's probably pregnant otherwise why no state wedding she could watch on telly?
Honestly, what a load of grouches you all are!
Why can't you just be happy for them - like me? ;0

[millier marc]

j'en connais..
j'en connais des qui charment
des qui me laissent femme
j'en connais qui me pçament
j'en connais des jlois
des qui roulent comme des filles
des qui me piquent mes bodys.

j'en connais tant tellement ça me prend tout mon temps

et mçeme ma maman qui m'adoe tendrement elle me dit " c'est pas bien" ce n'est pas bon tout ce rien
regarde ton droit chemin..

j'en connais des supberbes
des bien mçurs des acerbes.
des velus des imberbes.
j'en connais des sublimes.
des me,ndiants, des richissimes.
des que la vie abçime.

j'en connais mçeme tellement qu'çà me prend trop de temps!!!
et ma pauvre maman se dit en soupirant
Quai-je fait pourcela.
Est-ce de ma faute à moi.

j'en connais dans chaque port.
dans sud, dans chaque nord..

J'en connais sans efforts
j'en connais qui vont dire
Que je suis bonne à maudire
Et moi ça me fait sourire...

chanson de Carla Sarkozi..

Nous lui souhaitons simplement d'en connaitre encore et encore ... '

[millier marc]

l'amour.

l'amour ....pas pour moi
Tous ces toujours, c'est pas net, ça joue des tours.
ça approche ,sans se montrer
comme des traitres de velours
ça me blesse ou me lasse , selon des jours.

parole de Carla..

Sorry for our english readers , but its impossible for me to translate in your language..!!!! its to difficult for my broken english..

[Valentin]

Emlyn,
That would be true in Paris as well.

[Valentin]

QWERTY:
"These are luxury goods, aren't they? We're spoiled, aren't we?"

There's also the marketing engine turning at full throttle.
Marketing and advertising techniques evolved and are extremely efficient in creating the desire for a new product, even when there's no real need for it.
I know people who own several digital cameras, computers, mobile phones or media players, simply because the urge to buy a new model is almost irrepressible.

We can also note that while everybody complains, the French have never spent so much. The economic growth is mainly sustained by the interior spending.
The demand is such that imports continue to grow much faster than exports for years already.
That's why economists agree that more purchasing power will just go to imports, raise the debt and raise the prices too, with no good effect on the French economy.

[Valentin]

STERLING:
"One thing that really struck me about the wedding today (besides its insane precipitousness) was that Mathilde Agostinelli was a witness for the president."

First of all, I'm not sure it's for us to judge how things evolve in a couple. There can be a marriage after 3 months, after 3 years, or not at all.
Secondly, if you knew Ms. Agostinelli so well, you would also know that she's been a friend of Carla Bruni for a long time, which is why, at the wedding, she was a witness for Carla, not for Nicolas Sarkozy.

[Doremi]

I think it's great, it says a lot of the power and skill of our president.
He got a woman known for her aversion to commitment and sexual-fidelity deficit to marry him. He had said, "enough with hypocrisy" and as a man of 2 failed marriages and countless notches on his bed post ( I assume, a French's man reputation is at stake) he has married an bed-hoping ex-model ( not even French) with a child with the son of Enthoven Jr pinched while living with Enthoven Snr. In with the times, I say.
She will be perfect for the job, both can't do sexual fidelity, and as a model she knows how the look good in pictures and sell what ever she is told to sell. As long as she does not sing it's fine.
The woman he was living with when Cecilia left him must be fuming, so close she was, with the fridge-buying exercise.

Emlyn

Of course there is a great deal of hypocrisy and maybe jealousy, plenty of women sleep around, but Carla seem to be doing it in 800 thread count sheets and with top quality babes. As a woman of means it's a nice gig if you like it, can afford it and get to sing about it. With less money, a job maybe children and a partner, bed hoping can be dangerous and not just to your health - and I am by no means a prude. I would love to try my luck at be a seductress but I have been let down by my genes. Plus I have a job, 2 hours daily commute, I am too tired at the end of it for small talk, I like to read in bed and despite being from Venus my ascendant is pugnacious. I remember seeing a picture of Carla and her parents by Helmut Newton where she was sitting on her father's lap and being disturbed by her choice of revealed underwear.

By the way, £600 is becoming the standard price of double room minus bill in zone 2+. (zone 1 is £800+ sans bills)

[pulsimonium]

Good luck to them I say. They are a good looking couple and I am fed up with all the bitching about her and all the derogatory comments about him. Vive la France!

[azloon]

[He's an energizer bunny Azloon, but for "knowing" him as well as you do Obama, I can tell you they have much more in common than it might be suspected.] Valentin

V, tell us more about this observation of yours.

i can't imagine NS working as a community organizer in banlieues as obama did in the 'hood' of Chicago for many years before being elected to office.

and i don't believe sarko is as intelligent as obama (i.e., pure brain power), tho perhaps as, or more, clever. Obama was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review which essentially means he was the brightest and most able student in a group of highly intelligent students. i don't see NS as a serious student, more of an operator, a deal-maker -- tho obama is not bad in this area either.

i don't see Obama sucking up to the 'rich and famous' as sarko seems 'fatally attracted' to doing. Obama's suport base, and inner circle, consists largely of much more ordinary citizens. except for fund raising efforts, you won't see obama eating dinner at the four seasons in NY with 'glitterati."

re their ambition levels: many similarities, tho Obama may be a bit more audacious that Sarko, given O's age (10 years younger than NS) and his quickly 'coming out of nowhere" to stand where he does now.

sarko is no 'slouch' in the audacity area: being a party insider and minister who openly criticized his president and prime minister while avoiding being 'sacked," and obviously being quite bold in proposals for change, and a few of his 'stunts' as president.

what do you see?

[C Park]

Give the guy a break, he's in Luuurve.
Of all the countries in the world surely the French understand that.

Now he's bagged her he can get on with sorting the economy.

[John]

So the AFP is France's state news agency? And I suppose Reuters is the UK state news agency then?

Anyway, more gossiping I see. When I discovered this blog in 2006 I used to think it was good, but now I think it has fallen down in terms of quality, with most of the articles devoted to uninteresting gossiping about the private life of people and shallow reporting of the Paris chronique mondaine (like spending more time commenting on details of Attali's speech in front of the president rather than on the content of the Attali Commission's report itself). Has Charles Bremner transferred from The Times to The Sun perhaps? Note that it's the same owner anyway. (chuckles)

[Glad to see you're still reading despite your distaste, John. Just to correct your facts, AFP is substantially subsidised by the French tax-payer. It is an admirable news agency but it is also the clearing house for government information. Reuters is an international corporation with absolutely no connection to the UK state. As for the rest, you're entitled to your point of view. CB]

[Terry Empson]

One of the pleasing bye-products of the marriage is the series of photographs being circulated by e-mail under the title "La Nouvelle Réussite de Nicholas", in some of which the full extent of Cara's charms are disclosed. The set I got came via Monterrey in Mexico, so it looks as though quite a chunk of the Western hemisphere has, as it were, been put in the picture. The slide show ends with the pertinent question "Il est trop fort, notre Sarko: qui fera mieux?"

[concedo nulli]

Azloon, Obama could flourish at Harvard Law School then do some time as a community organiser. Do you know about lack of opportunities in France when you want to make the most of your education or to be socially constructive. This is an ailing country eaten up by negative preconceptions. That is why NS inspires hope and confidence in some who want this country to be alive.

[anotherjohn]

Fictional scene of conversation at Windsor ....(to any readers, please note this is a purely fictional scene, if it any resemblance to any purported, or recent news, it's entirely unintentional)...

Prince Philip: (Looking and answering to an inquiring group of French dignarities (aka, a visiting group of 'Royalty')

You know, Henry VIII, he had a lot of wives ....

Carla looking (away)....towards portraits - at some of the other ancient monarch's portraits
Is heard (singing...) J'en connais .....(presumably somewhere at Windsor)

French dignitary: 5
To be exact....

Silence.
....The party resumes ....as (in a scene from Chaucerian times....

[Valentin]

Azloon,

There's little point comparing Obama's and Sarkozy's past, the setting is too different.
Community work has not the same meaning or importance in France, since the state is supposed to take care of those issues.
A school like Harvard might be the Polytechnics, the HEC or the ENA schools in France, but it's very hard to compare them; an ENA graduate is indeed supposed to be very intelligent, but the system is sometimes so skewed that you get someone like Ségolène Royal or François Hollande.

As to the rich, there is no proof whatsoever that Sarkozy would have ever sucked up, in the sense that he would have been influenced by / do services to them. That's not just a statement, there really is no hint of incestuous relationship.

Again, France is very different of the US in all these respects.

No, when I said they'd do a good team, or that they have things in common, I meant the future.

There is to Sarkozy the same sense of freshness, hopefulness as you called it, also the capacity of finding a clever word or turn of phrase in any situation - Sarkozy is quite famous here for this, and quite alone in his class.
Sarkozy's approach is breaking with all known recipes, his way of reaching out to opponents, talking with everybody, personally involving in dangerous situations without fear, his way of avoiding full scale strikes, a French specialty, by masterfully handling the media or using second-level talks.
There's also to Sarkostyle the appeal to the simple citizen, a bit à l'americaine as we say, using short statements, repetitions, and simple, obvious logic and appealing to people's sense of fairness, justice or even sacrifice. Some of his speeches are a work of art of rhetoric.
Finally, Sarkozy's plans are sometimes seen as naïve and everybody is left pondering: one can never be quite sure the guy isn't just talking them into agreement, or the plan really is revolutionary.

It's difficult to compare them, Sarkozy is a seasoned politician, with a lot of experience in all intricacies of power, a lot of well placed friends, but also a lot of enemies - not only the Left, but also the center, the people around former president Chirac and many others.
Obama is much younger and less experienced. But they have the same huge brains, visionary approach, and I would even say class: you who so admire Obama's, should have seen Sarkozy other than on holiday :) (for the fun of it, you can go here :
http://dcpleats.blogspot.com/2007/08/obama-sarkozy-top-esquires-best-dressed.html
or here:
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/medias/presse/20070731.OBS8873/sarkozy_figure_parmiles_hommes_les_plus_elegants.html )

[Valentin]

John,

You're not alone to make those observations, many of us asked Charles before to change from the daily Sarkostory.
Unfortunately all media ressembles more and more to the Sun. Even left leaning French papers made huge Unes on Sarko again and again. On the other hand, it's not all their (journalists') fault: the truth is that not one day passes without Sarkozy being at the core of some new story. They literally make a living on Sarko alone, for the last year and a half.
If he sued them, I'm not sure he wouldn't get fat royalties :)

[I don't agree with you Valentin. Sarkozy's private life became a political story and matter of legitimate interest when he came off the rails following his divorce last October. France has a republican monarchy, with the most powerful chief executive in the democratic world so Sarko's unstable behaviour has been a major news story. CB]

[dot king]

Erm, didn't Henry VIII have six wives?

[Blendi Progri]

Azloon, I was online yesterday, shortly just looking about, when I saw the new Article by CB appear, so posted quickly-hoping I`ll be the first, LOL, but it wasn’t to be, you beat me to it.

My post (I hadn’t seen yours - as it wasn’t in the blogg when I posted mine,) and yours were the same about odds. We must forget Carla for a mo, and think of the odds, of two diff posts with the same thought,,, from 2 diff continents... at nearly the same time, LOL.

Do you give that marriage till December 08?
I do. But 2009 may be stormy...

Cecilia, by comparison will look very dignified, I suspect that If C.Brunni Leaves, she will make ballads and immortalise Sarko in songs, then… the messy bit will start.

Wishing both well though.

[Doremi]

"There's also to Sarkostyle the appeal to the simple citizen"

Yes, he appeals to the simpletons who can't get a ride on their friend's yatch.

[john o'doe]

I may have dreamt this but I'm pretty sure that on Saturday, LCI's news bulletin announcing the marriage (witnesses discreetly provided by LVMH and Prada) was followed directly by the Lancia car ad featuring Carla Bruni. Very strange...the President's new wife advertising chic little Italian cars on the day of her wedding!
It left me wondering if this ad campaign is going ahead regardless of changed status.
Word has it that Carla would have preferred a proper ceremony at the mairie for this, her first marriage. Cécilia could have warned her that he's tightfisted but it turns out Sarko is not so bling bling after all - he didn't follow the latest celebrity trend of getting a mag such as Paris Match to pay for the wedding in return for exclusive coverage.

[qwerty]

About relative intelligence of Obama/Sarkozy (see Azloon and other commentators):

Both Obama and Sarkozy are attorneys (as are Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Mitterrand....). It has been said (at least, I've heard it) that in terms of intelligence, you'd have to come from Polytechnique in France if you wanted to qualify as an American attorney... This isn't very flattering for the French legal profession. However, it may not be sans fondement. Anyway, I don't think Sarkozy ever earned the reputation of being a brilliant lawyer, but maybe it's because he's more interested in politics.

[Daniel Strohl]

Doremi,

« Yes, he appeals to the simpletons »
I did follow the appeal – LOL ! I feel much more at ease with this
community than with the community of our « intellectuels de gauche », who belong to a species practically extinct all over Europe, except in France, where we furthermore have also got a surviving « mammot », even if the beast is ailing.

PS : for our foreign friends not familiar with French political paleontology : Claude Allègre, a respected scientist, had been appointed Ministre de l’Education Nationale in Jospin’s government, under Mitterrand. Allègre is known for his frankness – this does of course not please everybody. Amidst a few other undiplomatic commentaries, he managed to call his bloated ministry « le mammouth ». Of course, this was not very popular. Some time later, Jospin had to dismiss him, even if both gentlemen are friends. Allègre has left the socialist party a few weeks ago – Sarkozy is said to consider him as a future minister.

John,

"I don't think Sarkozy ever earned the reputation of being a brilliant lawyer"

One may say the same regarding Mitterrand - but one can't say (even if one dislikes him - my case) that he was not intelligent ...

PS : A few days ago, Mrs. Mitterrand had her husband's lawyer robe along with other personal stuff sold at a public auction (for her fundation). Our leftist friends, who are sometimes not afraid to wrap themselves in high-nosed dignity, forgot to point this out for our foreign friends on the blog...

[Dominique]

QWERTY,

"It has been said [...] that in terms of intelligence, you'd have to come from Polytechnique in France if you wanted to qualify as an American attorney... This isn't very flattering for the French legal profession "

Or it isn't very flattering for the american judiciary system...?

[Daniel Strohl]

Dominique,

"Or it isn't very flattering for the american judiciary system...?"

LOL !

[Valentin]

Charles, maybe the interest in Sarko's private life became a neverending story in october, still it wasn't for the first time: for weeks and weeks the whole press analyzed Cécilia's behaviour at the end of the campaign, then on election days
(did she vote, did she not, why didn't she, why was she late at Concorde, why absent at Fouquet's etc etc). Then came the installation at Elysée palace, with endless accents on the "reunited family", the blonde gang, the new Kennedy and so on.
Then the lybian adventure, the New York trip, the new departure, the divorce.

Such news about such powerful figure as the French President will always make headlines, that's normal. Things is, this is (with two or three exceptions) ALL we talk about for a long time now.

(this is not to tell you what to write, of course.. I just enjoy every single unpolitical post - especially that Sarko is not exactly in a very good position right now :))

[Valentin]

Azloon:
"Obama's suport base, and inner circle, consists largely of much more ordinary citizens."

This should have been in my post on Sarkozy vs Obama before.
If I remember well, at the last elections, Sarkozy was the favourite of the popular classes, workers, and also entrepreneurs and senior citizens (who, despite physical impairments, often have very good understanding of political realities ;)).
Those who rather preferred Ségolène Royal (may her presidential ambitions be crushed!) were people around 20 yo and metropolitan cadres (often with very good jobs and salaries).

[Blendi Progri]

Today in The Times there was a good photo of Nico & Carla in front page (pointing out to page 13 of CB`s article) the photo was nice I must admit.

World summits will never be boring,Sarko can be the marriage councelor for the leaders; even teach them how to find a young wife.

This saga of Sarkosy's wedding to Carla Bruni is just an example of the mess this world is in today.

It is sad to see that the President of France appearing so powerful to stand up as the front man of his country yet so weak"

So weak that he fell in the deadly trap of Beauty, Lust, Money, and Status.

Is he really the man equipped to be running a country?

Where is the morale?

I think as a society globally we have really lost it.