Sarkosy Commits an August Vacation Sacrilege

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with his son, on vacation in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. (photo by Reuters)

Nicer than Nice

[...] For the French establishment, steeped in reflexive anti-Americanism, Sarko’s summer vacation in America is the ugliest in a series of sad events. First the handshake with Bush, then the friendly election-eve speech, then jogging, and now this. If you’re a French élitist, about now is when you think you might as well teach the poodle to hunt.

This is about a vacation, so nobody — except of course Le Monde, which saw in the woods of New Hampshire hidden symbols linking Sarkozy to Bush — wants to over-think this. But if the secular calendar of the French state has one sacred spot, it’s the month of August, four 35-hour weeks all rolled into one giant entitlement, a holiday taken far more seriously in France than Easter or Christmas.

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Why did he do it? As he explained to Libération, he had never had a chance to visit the USA when he was a kid because, in his family, “that wasn’t done.”

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Sarkozy also offered another bizarre reason for visiting America: “I like it here,” he told astonished reporters. Outrageous. Most of official France is phoning in their contribution to the construction of this artificial press controversy, but Leftists are doing what they can to keep the flame of French indignation alive. Les Echos quotes an angry Socialist politician: Sarkozy, he said, seems to like “expensive and remote destinations.” [... ]

The exchange rate with France is very favorable to the French for vacations right now. Almost a million French tourists visit the US every year. Sarkosy is also visiting as the guest of friends.

But by spending part of his vacation in the US instead of France, Sarkosy is upsetting French Socialists? Awwww, poor babies. Maybe they get upset too easily?

New Hampshire is a lovely place to take a Vacation. How could anyone begrudge someone that? All the fuss sounds like Socialist Sour Grapes to me.

Related Link:

New Hampshire town welcomes Sarkozy’s vacation