Pave: I Can't Believe It's France! II

Le jour 142 de Sarko

The second in an ongoing series of surprising faint-away elocutions by actual French folk.

I loved the way people made us feel welcome. I liked the countryside. I like the malls where people go shopping. I like the restaurants. I like swimming in the lakes. I like going jogging in the woods with my son who rides his bike alongside me. I like the way people are relaxed and uncomplicated.

And I don’t see why I should have given up going to the United States because a small part of the French elite professes an anti-Americanism that in no way corresponds to what the French people think—in no way at all.

You know from the way we celebrate the [Normandy] landings that the French people are with the Americans, and the American flag is popular in France. I have said, moreover, that relations between France and the United States go well beyond the personality of Mr. Sarkozy and Mr. Bush.

Sarko,
Président de la République française,
reflecting on his summer vacation in America
September 21, 2007 (NYT, p.4)

Well, you can't mistake this guy for Then-Jack, Now Ex-Jack. And there is more (p. 3).

France is back in the United States, because I want to tell the American people that the French people are their friends. We are not simply allies. We are friends. I am proud of being a friend of the Americans. You know, I am saying this to The New York Times, but I have said it to the French, which takes a little more courage and is a little more difficult. I have never concealed my admiration for American dynamism, for the fluidity of American society, for its ability to raise people of different identities to the very highest levels.

And this (p. 3):

I’m not the one who chooses the president of the United States. I have to work with the American people who are our friends regardless of the president they choose. And the Americans have to work with the French president, regardless of the President chosen by the French people.

Whoa, that's not the usual Jack Pack squawk. Worth the full read.

PFFT (What is this?): Can you believe this guy? 3½ | Rayonnement français 2½