DFM, what did you think of Colombani's editorial in Le Monde? Do you think he's serious, or is he just yanking my chain? My French is still a bit spotty, so I may have missed the gist of some of it, but it did seem to acknowledge that America and Europe are in the same boat with respect to al Qaeda. Yes, I think it misses the point completely on Iraq, and this weird infatuation with Kerry seems more than a little divorced from reality -- the guy did vote for the war, after all -- but is not the realization that what's really under attack are "wine, pigs, loose morals and nudity" -- in short, all that's right with the West -- a step forward? I'm not saying that a majority of Europeans believe that yet, but if bin Laden's boys keep blowing up innocent civies over there, won't it eventually help to make the case for a little transatlantic bridge building?
I've been paying close attention to the French press for the last couple of years and, yes, it seems so damned selective compared to what we get here in the U.S. -- and those disgusting political cartoons are just so irritatingly petulant and childish sometimes. And yet in me abides a strange attachment to Europe in general, and -- don't laugh -- France in particular. Do you think it pathological? I'm not sure there's any rational explanation for it. Maybe it's just an American thing -- but I can't help it. Maybe it's the Yin to all that hateful anti-american Yang over there. I'm almost convinced that Americans are born with an innate affection for the French -- why? I don't know. Maybe it's all those romantic stories we get in school about Lafayette and the Statue of Liberty and re-runs of An American in Paris and all that crap -- which is then slowly and painfully chipped away in us by age and experience and cartoons by "Willem".
So forgive me if I'm reading too much into Colombani's little ditty. I know W says Americans should just stick a fork in France and consider it a write-off. And maybe he's right. But my gut still tells me we've got to find some way to hang together. I don't know. It's just depressing. And it's late. And I've had too much to drink.