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Test your knowledge of past and current French Presidents by filling the blanks in this short extract of a U.S authored History of America's disastrous relationship with France:"(…) in [A] he () was finally elected to succeed the retiring [C]. In America, there was some hope that he would become a French version of Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher and revive a moribund economy (…)"
Select the right answer:
A.
1: 1995
2: 2007
B.
1: Chirac
2: Sarkozy
C.
1: Mitterrand
2: Chirac
ANSWERS: A: both B: both C: both.
Yeah, I have a couple of reasons for being highly skeptical and cynical about Sarkozy. I mean a truckload.
Comments
Comments thread (7)
2487 - SisterToldjah
SisterToldjah
DF, from what I've read here at your site about Sarko, I'd say you have good reason to be skeptical and cynical about him. I should have known that the stories I read about Sarko in the mainstream press in the run-up to, and after the election, were too good to be true. All the same, I think I'd be even more depressed if it were President Sego we were talking about right now ;)
President Bush tends to want to believe in the best of people and their intentions, but I think his experience with the likes of Putin, and some others, has taught him the hard way that when it comes to "world leaders" and their claims of wanting to "be allies of the US," those claims have to be viewed with a very heavy dose of skepticism. I hope in the case of Sarko that Bush hasn't allowed himself to be fooled by his charm and wit in his eagerness to make friends with France.
2493 - tinga-tinga
tinga-tinga
Chirac ("Je suis l'elu!") Mitterand, meme chose. The new information the trans-Altantic Southern Belles need to know about politics in L'Hexagon is whether the Dissident Frogman is a beer man or wine man. C'est tout. (:-D)
2495 - Valerie, Texas
Valerie, Texas
Perhaps I am mistaken. But it seems that the ones who hope for change are OUTSIDE of France while the French themselves seem perfectly content to whine & grumble, but yet ultimately do not desire change at all. Hence whom they keep putting in to power.
2496 - tinga-tinga
tinga-tinga
Valerie,The French have an electoral system that the Clintons drool for. A close comparison of the American electoral process side-by-side with the French soon shows how bicycle-pedaling nobodies in some little arrondisment make it to the first round national presidential run-offs when said same party hack would be electorally destroyed no later than the first Iowa straw poll in the USA. Louisiana has essentially the same system. BOTH Louisiana and France have presented voters with this exact dilemma (and bumper sticker): "Vote for the CROOK, not the Nazi." Chirac got a whopping 17% in the first round - an actual president against some of the most pathetic no-name losers inthe nation. That would be him, his wife, his dogs. In the run-off with Chirac versus LePen, voters held their noses and voted for the sole purpose of keeping LePen out. Chirac was basking inthe deceptive glow of an unheard of free election result of over 80% (close to Castro's, Saddam's and Gorby's usual controlled numbers) It'd be interesting to see what sort of candidates would make it in France if the system presented the voters with real choices.
2502 - Papa Ray
Papa Ray West Texas
The Sweet Sister said: "I hope in the case of Sarko that Bush hasn't allowed himself to be fooled by his charm and wit in his eagerness to make friends with France."
I kinda hope so myself, but knowing President Bush, he always gives everyone several chances to make a fool out of themselves and him.
I don't expect that to change. Texans are like that, and even tho President Bush is not really a born and bred Texican, he has spent way too long here and it has rubbed off. Along with his religious beliefs, that makes him a patsy for world wise and corrupt leaders.
Plus Americans as a whole tend to believe the best of people. We want to believe that way, but usually after we are screwed, we not only remember, we get even.
Papa Ray
2503 - SisterToldjah
SisterToldjah
Hey Papa Ray,
I think as far as that goes, it depends on who gets elected president next year. If Washington wakes up in the next few months and realizes that Sarko and co. are all talk and no action, who will leave us out to dry with empty promises, I believe that a Republican president would be civil and polite to the French gov't but not overly friendly, definitely not buddy buddy like we're seeing right now. It'd turn back into business as usual between the US and French governments, which is to say, they wouldn't get close to an alliance on anything.
But if you have a Democrat president - like Hillary, for example - the story will be quite different, because when world leaders kick the US where it hurts, Democrats are notorious for siding with those world leaders over their own country, and I predict Hillary would fall all over Sarko with adoration and praise, calling for an "understanding of differences" etc etc.
2542 - obloodyhell
obloodyhell