Nicolas Sarkozy: A Man of the French People or an Aristocrat in Disguise?

Poor Nicolas Sarkozy. The man just gets elected President of France and already the media, the whiners, and the sore-losers are giving him a hard time.

What did he do? He took his victory holiday on a rich man's yacht. It's a "form of arrogance and even insult," said Ségolène Royal's press secretary.

And, according to some, Sarkozy's politics stem from his aristocratic family history in Hungary before he immigrated to France. During the war, the communists burned down the family chateau.

But all of that would go against one of the chief pillars of the democratic, egalitarian myth, which is that the elected jefe is supposed to be just like anyone else. Remember when George Bush senior expressed surprise at automated tellers in supermarkets? Ooops! We were supposed to believe he shopped for his own groceries, just like the lumps who voted for him.

And in almost every election campaign in Britain, a politician is bushwhacked by a journalist who asks him the current price of milk. The president is supposed to be a 'man of the people,' not a tool of the rich and powerful. Which is why George Bush, the younger, in his presidential campaign, played up his Texas ties... his cowboy boots... his ranch and his good ol' boy yahoo connections - rather than his elite, East-Coast background... his rich family... or the fact that his father was head of the CIA, the Vice-President, and later the President.

And here is Nicolas Sarkozy now leaning so hard on the pillar he's threatened to knock it down.

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia

P.S. to get The Daily Reckoning direct to your inbox sign up to our free e-mail newsletter or if you prefer to use RSS, subscribe to the Daily Reckoning RSS feed.

Related Articles:

• None Found