PARIS -- Mac Is Back with Sarko the American.
Sen. John McCain popped 'round the Elysee Palace today, the official residence of the 
President of the French Republic and not far from the magnificent Champs Elysee. Of course, your blogger saw just the gravel driveway (where he stood in the shade -- just feet from the sunny spot -- and froze with nearly a hundred Parisian press who were almost entirely dressed in black -- very hip).
McCain rolled in at 4 p.m. in his rented BMW (not bad, a Mercedes yesterday in London, a Beamer today in Paris, although there was a big, black Chevy Suburban in his five-car motorcade) and ignored shouted questions with a smile as he went in to the rather perfunctory palace (which was once a temporary Crown Furniture Store. Seriously).
The French security appeared to have been directed to keep the press corps from warming itself in the nearby sun, so reporters milled about smartly, debating Franco-American relations and, of course, Eliot Spitzer.
The French do not get the Spitzer scandal. "In France, that would be no big deal, even with prostitutes," said one mistress-worthy female French reporter. "Why are Americans so upset?" She looked on with a sneer of disbelief as an American reporter explained that Spitzer had set himself up as a moral icon, "Mr. Clean." "But you did not do the same with Bill Clinton," she said wisely. One sage U.S. TV reporter said, "Ah, with Democrats, it's not the sex, but the cover up. With Republicans, it's just the sex." Poor Larry Craig.
This same reporter regaled others with a story about Sarkozy's visit last summer to New Hampshire (McCain would later say that he "reminded [Sarkozy] that he remains extremely popular in the state of New Hampshire, where he chose to spend his vacation, and the message from the American people is that we welcome him back at any time"). An AP photographer, Jim Cole, who owns a house on Lake Winnipesaukee in the Granite State, also owns a boat, and he and a colleague, freelancer Vince DeWitt, set out one day to snap a few shots of Sarkozy and his then-second wife, Cecelia, staying at the lakefront estate with a private beach.
Cole motored out his chosen spot, where the 20-year veteran photographer was met by U.S. Secret Service, who greeted him warmly and told him to stay a bit offshore. But then French security came up in another boat and actually boarded his vessel. He reached for an oar to beat off the pirates, putting his camera down in the process, and it was quickly snatched up by the French. He battled to get his camera back, 
but Sarkozy demanded that the offender be brought to shore. An AP story says "French President Nicolas Sarkozy lost his temper with two American news photographers covering his vacation Sunday, jumping onto their boat and scolding them loudly in French. ... Sarkozy picked up DeWitt's camera but then put it down. A woman then spoke up in English and relayed Sarkozy's request to be left alone, DeWitt said. The woman did not identify herself."
It all worked out in the end. The phots of the shirtless Sarkozy, published in the French newspaper Figaro, were doctored, taking off clumps of fat around the waist (Paris Match later reported), and he ended up bailing on that second wife and picking up former supermodel Carla Bruni, a dozen years his junior.
Back to the palace. McCain emerged with Sarkozy after their third meeting as photographers snapped away. The Arizona senator descended the stairs and took questions for about 20 minutes. The first question, from an attractive French female reporter, was about his cozy relationship with Sarkozy, on whether "you have things in common, the same personality?" "I would hope so. I believe that he's a man of enormous energy," McCain said (see graf above about the supermodel).
A bit bored with the Francophilia, your blogger asked the senator if one of the men flanking him, Sen. Joe Lieberman, the maverick former Democrat from Connecticut, or Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and daily cell-phone chatter with McCain, would be his vice president. The trio laughed heartily (probably the best photo from the session) as McCain said: "We have just started that process and I value the friendship of both of these individuals." But he got that impish look in his eyes as he added: "I was about to make a funny remark but it seems that you can't do that much anymore."
Then the senators reboarded their luxury rides and beat it out of the palace.
— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times
Comments (4)
Champs Elys�es has an "s" at the end of it, dear blogger.
bilingual Aim�e Kligman
Posted by Aimee Kligman | March 22, 2008 8:47 AM
It appears that French reporters have a better sense of American politics than Americans have of France--or at least than Mr. Cool here has.
Having done research work in France for the past 15 years, I get tired of the clich�-ridden coverage of the French, and his column is no different. Speaking with knowledgeable asperity to a doofus is *not* "sneering," it's being as polite as possible to someone whose limitations in the complexities of international relationships are so obvious that it's practically impossible to explain anything to, or even have a serious discussion with, such an individual.
I don't blame intelligent, well-read French reporters for feeling exasperated with such people--I often feel the same way myself. This piece has almost no content--well, the bit about the photojournalistic liposuction on M. le President's midsection is amusing, but it's ages old now--and I'm surprised that sophomoric observations about car models and untold dirty jokes is all this writer could come up with.
For 12 hours' worth of plane fare, and Parisian hotel fees at the current dollar-to-Euro scale, I'd have asked a few more pointed questions: Why the sudden puddle-jumping of Republicans to Paris? It's really confusing Americans who don't get the sudden switch in political bedfellows here...
Do McCain and Sarkozy have potential international policy interests in common (Darfur, where the French have been acting in a military capacity, for example--or is some new wrinkle between Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq in the offing)? Is the former French colony of Vietnam still stuck in the Republican craw? Or is Iraq destined to become our Algeria?
Or was the invitation intended to bolster Sarkozy's limp, sagging position in the French polls? (he was down to a 37% approval rating a few weeks ago--and he's had time to drop further...) Or was he seeking advice from a U.S. political figure who's done better than the UMP in its most recent electoral rounds? It can't much help McCain to hitch his wagon to this starlet-struck resident of l'Etoile, unless there's some favor GWB wants him to convey or call in.
For a more sober look from the other side, I was privileged to be able to attend both the Kennedy School's hosted presentation of last spring's PS candidate Mme. Segolene Royal last month, and a book signing at a nearby foreign-language bookstore, Schoenhof's, where those of us with some background in French political issues got to speak with M. Sarkozy's rival. Her replies to two questions were most telling. Asked what she'd learned in last spring's campaign, and what had helped the most in a very close fight with a flamboyant combatant, she pointed out that people took her honesty seriously: she had pledged moderate economic growth, and would have worked to achieve it; his exaggerated claims (25% at one point) have been left abysmally unmet (c. 1%, as I heard) and he is heavily criticized for exceeding his budget in decorating the same Champs-Elysee palais Mr. Cool here visited. (But then, it sounds like the press weren't invited inside, either). One ventures to guess that Mme. Royal would have also made a better effort to address the seething faubourgs just outside Paris which have continued to erupt into riots--and would have found a better way to deal with over-quota immigration than by giving the Roms one-way cab fare back to Romania, as le Sarko has done.
Asked whether she'd do run the same kind of campaign against M. Sarkozy in 2012, she just smiled politely and said, "It's not at all clear that M. Sarkozy will be a candidate in 2012, is it?"
It brought the house down.
Posted by della roux | March 22, 2008 9:10 AM
della roux, stop riding on someone else's blog and do your own. If that is a comment, I would hate to see your articles.
Posted by Arlin | March 23, 2008 12:33 AM
Someone needs to tell the French reporter that it is a matter of trust, not a matter of sex. Why do you get married if you know you are going to have a mistress? In our world a married President caught getting serviced while talking on the phone to a Congressperson offers vulnerabilities to be exploited. If that is the kind of person the reporter wants making decisions for her and the French, she can have him!!!!!!!!
Posted by Larry Stone | March 23, 2008 10:36 AM