I think that you underestimate the difficulty of turning around an entire political culture. Within my lifetime, the Republican party imposed wage and price controls (Nixon) and assorted other left-wing nonsense in their economic policy. All the while they were beaten about the head and shoulders by all right thinking americans as barbaric unfeeling right wing savages.
Even if all the things you say are true, Sarkozy is supplying a valuable service to the political culture of France. Never again will the full court press about how nasty, american, etc. a french reformer is carry the weight that it did with Sarkozy. Sarkozy took every dirty low blow possible, came out on top, and now only has to prove he doesn't have fangs to change the dynamic of electing future leaders of France. Believers in liberty had been successfully demonized in France to an extent that most americans would find shocking. One cures this only through the election of the most freedom loving viable candidate available which creates the space for even more freedom loving candidates the next round. Newt could never have risen to power without Reagan. President Bush is providing a similar service (though it will become much more obvious after he leaves office) for the next generation of the center-right.
Hopefully, along the way, the French political culture will pick up and dust off their honor, international solidarity, and sense of spine. But that's something that ultimately comes from the collective personal decisions of the French electorate that they want to make something of France more than the ramshackle remnant of very old glory.
I think that you underestimate the difficulty of turning around an entire political culture. Within my lifetime, the Republican party imposed wage and price controls (Nixon) and assorted other left-wing nonsense in their economic policy. All the while they were beaten about the head and shoulders by all right thinking americans as barbaric unfeeling right wing savages.
Even if all the things you say are true, Sarkozy is supplying a valuable service to the political culture of France. Never again will the full court press about how nasty, american, etc. a french reformer is carry the weight that it did with Sarkozy. Sarkozy took every dirty low blow possible, came out on top, and now only has to prove he doesn't have fangs to change the dynamic of electing future leaders of France. Believers in liberty had been successfully demonized in France to an extent that most americans would find shocking. One cures this only through the election of the most freedom loving viable candidate available which creates the space for even more freedom loving candidates the next round. Newt could never have risen to power without Reagan. President Bush is providing a similar service (though it will become much more obvious after he leaves office) for the next generation of the center-right.
Hopefully, along the way, the French political culture will pick up and dust off their honor, international solidarity, and sense of spine. But that's something that ultimately comes from the collective personal decisions of the French electorate that they want to make something of France more than the ramshackle remnant of very old glory.