President Sarkozy of France Calls Obama Weak and Overrated
America – are you listening? Who ever though I would agree with a Frenchman?
Mr Sarkozy is pouring cold water on President Obama’s efforts to recast American leadership on the world stage, depicting them as unoriginal, unsubstantial and overrated.
The American President’s call “to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare” was hot air, Mr Sarkozy’s diplomatic staff told him in a report. “It was rhetoric – not a speech on American security policy but an export model aimed at improving the image of the United States,” they said. Most of Mr Obama’s proposals had already been made by the Bush administration and Washington was dragging its feet on disarmament and treaties against nuclear proliferation, the leaked report said.
Personal pique and French politics are also behind the souring of Mr Sarkozy’s self-promoted honeymoon with the United States. On the personal side, the French President is needled by the adulation for an unproven US leader whose stardom has eclipsed what he sees as his established record as a world troubleshooter. “The President is annoyed by what he sees as the naivety and the herd mentality of the media,” said a journalist who is privy to Elysée thinking.
Mr Obama’s favour for Ankara has irked but also helped Mr Sarkozy as his Union for a Popular Movement campaigns for European Parliament elections in June. Mr Sarkozy slapped down the US President on French TV after he publicly called for Turkish entry to the European Union.
Permanent refusal of Turkish membership is one of Mr Sarkozy’s policy planks and one of his most popular with voters. Mr Obama’s venture into EU affairs has enabled Mr Sarkozy to make political capital. He has shown that France can still stand up to the United States despite rejoining the Nato command last week.
Looks like Obama is a Bush retread mixed with a Clinton retread and just politics as usual on the national and international stage. That kool-aid must have been delicious for those sheeple thinking they would get change. The only change that is coming is moving further over to the left by expanding the government, spending more, and not defending ourselves in a time of major global volatility. If the French get that Obama is all talk and no substance why can’t the left?
Obama Pushes for Turkey’s Acceptance to the EU
Obama’s last stop on his European tour was to Turkey. During his brief stint in the country he gave another campaign/stump speech and pushed for Turkey’s acceptance into the European Union.
Some of Obama’s quotes:
“Let me say this as clearly as I can,” Obama said. “The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical … in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject.”
Calling for a greater partnership with the Islamic world in an address to the Turkish parliament, Obama called the country an important U.S. ally in many areas, including the fight against terrorism. He devoted much of his speech to urging a greater bond between Americans and Muslims.
I seem to remember that in March 2003, the Turks refused to allow the U.S. Army’s 4th infantry Division to disembark there and attack into Iraq from the north. That decision left Saddam and his cronies an escape route once Baghdad fell, and ultimately cost (at least) hundreds of American lives in the insurgency that broke out later that year.
“We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith, which has done so much over so many centuries to shape the world for the better, including my own country,” Obama said. (which country? Giggle…)
Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyia, two of the biggest Arabic satellite channels, carried Obama’s speech live.
Upon hearing of Obama’s words, President Sarkozy of France, a long time opponent of Turkey’s acceptance, said “I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed.”
Sarkozy’s love-in with Obama was brief if it was even true to begin with. In layman’s terms he basically told Obama to mind his own business and leave Europe to deal with the European Union.
One of the issues that those in Europe, opposing Turkey’s acceptance, have is that Turkey would become the largest and most populated country in the Union. Their Union acts in much the same way our states do. The more populated the state, the more representatives you can have in Congress. This could mean that Turkey would have more influence over Europe because it would have more MEPs and more power over European decisions and policy-making.
Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, have deep reservations about Turkey’s acceptance. Austria and France are completely and openly against it.
Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected attempts to call Turkey the representative of moderate Islam. “It is unacceptable for us to agree with such a definition. Turkey has never been a country to represent such a concept. Moreover, Islam cannot be classified as moderate or not,”Erdoğan said, speaking at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies last Thursday.
Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, called last week on Turkey to renew its focus on reforms to meet Union entry criteria for democracy and workers’ rights. “The pace of negotiations depends on the pace and intensity of the reforms in your country,” he said.
The Turkish press said yesterday that the country had secured concessions for dropping its objections to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, becoming the next Nato Secretary-General.
Sarkozy (France), Threatens to Walk Out of G20 Summit
President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France’s demands for tougher financial regulation are not met.
France will not accept a G20 that produces a “false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments”, his advisers said.
How much does that second paragraph sound like President Obama himself? LMAO!
Asked if this meant a possible walk-out, Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy’s deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, said: “A basic rule with nuclear deterrence is that you do not say at what point you will use the weapon.”
The French threat dramatically raised the temperature hours before President Obama arrives in London today. If carried through, it would ruin a summit for which Mr Brown and Mr Obama have high ambitions, believing it vital to international recovery.
Obama’s Latest Gaffe (France Is Not Amused)
Obama recently pledged his friendship to France by sending a letter that said the following:
“I am certain that we will be able to work together, in the coming four years, in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world.”
The issue is not what was in the letter or Obama reaching out to France, but the fact that Obama sent that letter to former President Chirac, not to the current President, Sarkozy.
Many believe this gaffe was actually intentionaldue to Sarkozy’s pro- War on Terror stances when compared to Chirac’s.
Nicolas Sarkozy is both offended and unamused. He has been trying to get a sit-down with President Obama for months, to no avail, and now this obvious snub.
Whether this was intentional or just a simple gaffe - it proves that Obama is either incompetent, rude or both. Ironically enough, Obama accused President Bush of burning bridges with allies and causing a lot of anti-American sentiment. It would appear that Obama is doing a very good job of that in just a couple months.
