Sarko : Not quite what we expected

Written by Riviera Reporter

A year ago we hailed presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy as a welcome change from the usual run of French politicians – those making up what an American observer has called “that snooty, elitist, humourless governing class” so well typified by Dominique de Villepin. Sarko’s immediate predecessors were essentially rather grey men with, leaving aside their shared sexual athleticism, just an odd touch of colour: Giscard played the accordion, Mitterrand consulted astrologers and Chirac spent hours watching videos of sumo wrestling. France, it seemed, was about to elect a man full of energy and ideas who was ready to admit he liked pop music and trash television and didn’t much care for reading. That, we thought, was an appealing profile. But after just ten months in office he has a poll rating below forty per cent.

No doubt about it that this devastating loss of public favour has had much to do with his behaviour. The London Daily Telegraph was quoted with approval by Paris papers when it commented that “France has elected as president a retarded adolescent”. Teenagers can be forgiven immature and vulgar behaviour but not a man in his early fifties. The whole Cécilia-Carla saga would have made him an object of ridicule among colleagues in an office. Even a church spokesman could say snidely, “Let’s hope this is his last marriage – at least while he’s president.” At a time when, as he put it, “the coffers are empty”, his lifestyle strikes a discordant note. At his recent birthday party – the gang were all there, Rachida, Rama, Johnny – one guest stumbled out and told a lurking journalist: “We’ve just eaten and drunk the equivalent of several minimum wages.” Not clever.

The overall picture of the man that has emerged in the media is deeply unattractive: fierce rages, impulsive decisions, low tolerance of dissent, vindictiveness and sheer barminess – such as the idea of having primary school children identify with individual holocaust victims of their own age (“unthinkable” said Auschwitz survivor Simone Weil). The inappropriateness of much of what this president says and does contrasts with the style of his Prime Minister François Fillon, serious and dignified, “discreet and austere” (to quote Le Parisien). To repeat, Sarkozy’s low standing in public esteem has more to do with his perceived behaviour, in public and private, than with his political performance. That’s why it will be so difficult to reverse. As a doctor remarked to us recently, “Here’s a man who could possibly be in need of prolonged therapy and medication.”

So what’s on the report card?

One of Sarko’s numerous ideas of varying degrees of barminess is that his ministers (with whose activities he continually interferes) should be regularly given a mark based on thirty criteria to indicate how well they are doing. This won’t, of course, apply to the president himself. But how’s he to be rated? It’s only fair to say, yet again, that his “bling-bling” dimension – a phrase of Le Monde – has distracted attention from his genuine achievements. As noted last time, he has effectively destroyed the National Front as a serious political presence; similarly, as his relative success in dealing with the pensions issue has shown, he has managed to neuter the loony Left and reach agreement with moderate and sensible unionists. He has seen unemployment fall, even if the reasons are not altogether clear, and his environmental proposals (if realised) are positive.

Two negatives show up on the report card. First, Sarko’s habit of coming up with proposals which are then quickly dropped. His announced policy on the 35-hour week lasted only one day. Similarly, he soon climbed down in the face of the taxi-drivers’ resistance to a justified reform of their trade and is even making concessions to the tobacconists.The ill-considered plan for advertising to be withdrawn from state TV channels is already being modified.

Second, and more important, he’s failed dismally to convince the French that he’s increased their purchasing power, a central theme of his campaign. As his hero Napoleon once said, the first component of success is luck and that the president hasn’t had. The rise in oil prices pushed up the cost of living in many ways and the worldwide “credit crunch” hasn’t made things any easier. Inflation is now at its highest for sixteen years. But as Dupont pays more for his toilet rolls, apples, train tickets and much else he would be less irritated if he could believe the man in the Elysée was more focused on his daily concerns.

From Riviera Reporter Issue 126: April/May 2008