Vive le Sarko!

"There is a demand for change. Never have the risks of inertia been so great for France as they are now in this world in flux where everyone across the world is trying to change quicker than the others, where any delay can be fatal,"

Proud, strong words, from the new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who can oft be seen in his running kit with new PM Francois Fillon which one can assume an apparent attempt to outrun poor social awareness for Muslim immigrants and high levels of unemployment. Lest we all forget Mr. Fillon’s laughable attempts at pension reform, which to some extent, cost him his job in Mr. Chirac’s administration.

“Tongue in Cheek” aside so far so good for the French President, who has sent both smiles and shivers across the bodies of EU legislators. With his takeover hopes of pushing through a Constitution, that has become quite a gorilla, now seems to be a bit of a reality. Despite campaign claims from rivals that Mr. Sarkozy was a “candidate for brutality” due to his overly hard-line views for France’s future. It is instead a touch of a breath of fresh air to see a relatively massive switch in a political circle viewed generally from the outside world as a conglomerate of historical relics.

Now famous for his proposed work initiatives, in which his emphasis to “rehabilitate the values of work, effort, merit and respect” whichcould be viewed as quite the culture shock to the laissez faire French employment culture. Mr. Sarkozy is, so far, bringing the proper attitude as it is well known that progress does not come sitting on one’s ass. A proposed hardliner in the field of illegal immigration in 2005, Mr. Sarkozy as Interior Minister changed his tune a touch in 2006 from one of broad crack down, to instead economic based reform allowing individuals who provide learned skills to be smiled upon favorably by the government allowing for well reasoned integration.


More of this ahead for the immigrants of France?

The continuation of such a program, while positive for the immigrant based economic growth of France, it may still be met with a continued gnashing of the teeth by France’s welfare lobby. The key arguement being of course the issue of “sans-papier” immigrants, which can no longer be ignored and reform must meet both sides.

None the less, as American’s, so far it is at least a positive move to have such an individual running one of our oldest allies. The President has done well to direct previous politicians to, in essence, “cram it” when being overly critical of US foreign policy. Of course I speak concerning Iraq, as be it completely misaligned and improper (as you writer can attest to, being a chess piece in said conflict)

Mr. Sarkozy’s impressive slap in the face issued to Mr. Chirac in September 2006 when he was quoted as saying, “It is bad manners to embarrass one's allies or sound like one is taking delight in their troubles.” So it is with the grandest of gestures I say put the cork back on the wine bottle “yellow ribbon car magnet” American’s. Enjoy that bottle of Beaujolais, this writer surely will. Oh, and fear not Ann Coulter, while he is your arch-nemesis (an American friendly Frenchman!) I’m sure at some point you will be able to call him a “faggot”.