Who's the President of France anyway? Some conservative bloggers are convinced that President Obama doesn't know that Nicolas Sarkozy is the President of France. Who's in this picture? President Jacques Chirac, right, former First Lady Bernadette Chirac, center, and current French President Sarkozy.
(JACQUES BRINON/AP)Photos (1 of 1)
Obama writes letter to Chirac - blogosphere goes crazy
By Jimmy Orr | 03.23.09
Want to know how quickly rumors get spread on the Internet? Here’s a prime example.
The right side of the web is apoplectic this morning claiming that President Obama doesn’t know who the French president is.
They point to an article in the French newspaper Le Figaro reporting that President Obama last week wrote a letter to former French President Jacques Chirac.
“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,” Obama is purported to have written.
Wrong guy
This has electrified the Internet. Why would President Obama initiate correspondence with Mr. Chirac instead of President Nicolas Sarkozy?
One excited blogger writes, “Doesn’t Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It’s like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president.”
That’s a good heads up. But let’s dig a little deeper.
French-speaking pal
Our handy colleague, Laurent Belsie, who writes the New Economy blog here at the Monitor, speaks French. (We don’t hold that against him.)
With his help we found out that another French newspaper, the New Observer, explained that Obama was merely replying to a Chirac letter who was writing him as the head of his foundation — the Jacques Chirac Foundation for sustainable development and cultural dialogue.
The foundation is promoting access to water and medicines in west Africa, combating deforestation in the Congo Basin, and trying to save dying languages in Polynesia, according to a spokesman who helped set up the foundation.
Teleprompter jokes
Of course it is much more fun to write things like “Maybe President Obama’s correspondence office needs a teleprompter too!” But in fact, there doesn’t seem to be a controversy here.
Le Figaro did opine in its article that “in using the word ‘peace,’ Obama was offering an implicit homage to the former French president who had opposed the Iraq war.”
But other French news organizations confirmed with Chirac’s entourage that they believed the reference was not in regards to the Iraq war but to Chirac’s current work as head of the foundation.
Whatever. In any case, there is no evidence that the language has upset President Sarkozy or anyone else in France.
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There’s no evidence that anyone in France is following us on Twitter either. But you can. Follow us here.
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2. expat | 03.23.09
Ronsonic — There’s been a meeting planned for some time between Obama and Sarko. They’ve had contact, called each other. There’s talk of April 3rd. That is to say, there’s no snubbing going on, just people like you inventing that perception. No different than others inventing the letter fiasco. Thanks for adding to the noise.
3. L Roberts | 03.23.09
0bama should send Sarkozy a set of American films on DVD, Region 1 of course.
4. C.J. Simones | 03.23.09
The only foaming at the mouth going on in the blogosphere I see is the left trying to foment artificial outrage (ala AIG bonuses) at the right even noticing. Why not instead do a 1000-word article on why it is so plausible for people to believe the Dalai ‘Bama doesn’t in fact know who Sarkozy is?
Much could be learned if you’d troll around a bit on TOTUS’s blog.
Exit question: Is it just me or does the former French President look like a healthier reincarnation of LBJ?
6. ErinM | 03.23.09
God you people are idiots… talk about Obama derangement syndrome. Obama and Sarkozy had a very long, one-on-one meeting last July. I think Obama knows who he is… better than you do apparently. Sarkozy praised him profusely then, and still does. Just last week Obama prasied Sarkozy on his pledge to bring France back into the NATO alliance. It’s a mutual admiration society. And somehow I trust Sarkosy’s assessment, and critical thinking skills, much more than yours.
7. Liz | 03.24.09
Poor reporting on this issue leads to understandable confusion. I’m surprised you are chastizing the right blogosphere for noticing this event and raising the question. I say - thank goodness for the internet. People are naturally examining the behavior and performance of the new president. And they want information about his actions around the world. The isolated paragraphs found on Le Figaro do bring up questions that interested political observers want answered. I’m glad the CSM took notice of citizen’s concerns to research the issue. Is the CSM the only media outlet reporting on news that people want answers to? And finally, now that the CSM has taken note of it, I wish you did a better job of writing about it. I’d like to see included something about the Obama administration’s other communications with the current government of France, what is France’s position on the issues Obama says he’d like to work with Chirac on, what is the likelyhood of the US to work with Chirac’s foundation if its goals are at odds with French policy, how does Obama plan to work with the foundation (since that’s the intent of his letter)?
A letter from the POTUS is a big deal - and it should be.
8. anetgroup | 03.24.09
Liz,
How many heads of state have corresponded with Jimmy Carter concerning support for his many forays in the name of peace…
What’s the difference???
Also, it’s nice to have a head of state that goes beyond press secretary diplomacy level to commend a past PRESIDENT of a strong ally.
Kinda shows respect, non?
9. thomas43615 | 03.24.09
It’s apparent that the ‘Doofus in the White House’ cannot do anything right without looking at his teleprompter.
It’s going to be a loooooooooong 4 years!!!
10. jeliz | 03.24.09
This President has not been in office 4 months, and yet the Rabid Right is doing everything they can to pick apart every little move he makes. As a left wing liberal, I wish we would have done the same with George Bush’s presidency, although with his only being able to tackle one issue at a time, it would not have made very good reading; and he also spent a great deal of his presidency “on vacation” or “at the ranch.” Thank God for President Obama and the Internet, where truth abounds.
11. Dave | 03.24.09
After the DVD collection “gift” and no planned reception for Gordon Brown, isn’t anybody noticing he’s deliberately snubbing our European allies, because he prefers to snuggle up to the Third World?
12. Bob Thompson | 03.24.09
“This President has not been in office 4 months, and yet the Rabid Right is doing everything they can to pick apart every little move he makes. As a left wing liberal, I wish we would have done the same with George Bush’s presidency”
That was a joke, right? LOL
13. Liz | 03.24.09
“How many heads of state have corresponded with Jimmy Carter concerning support for his many forays in the name of peace…
What’s the difference???”
Jimmy Carter has been out of office for nearly 30 years. His work with foreign govenments on peace initiatives is outside of State Department policy. At this point, he’s a private citizen with great contacts (and superior skills).
Obama is POTUS. Anything he chooses to focus on is literally government business. Foreign policy and diplomacy are driven by the executive branch. There’s all the difference in the world - literally.
I’d really like to see more in the press about his direction in foreign policy. It seems HClinton is doing a good job as Secy of State, but Obama will be setting the direction. Because of our current lack of information, small incidents such as this letter are picked apart as clues. It appears he is now interested in some sort of personal outreach, as demonstrated by his recent video to Iran and now by this letter to France. What’s the rest of the puzzle? Rather than hoping for the best, I’d like to hear in the media what’s going on in foreign policy, from what they’ve observed. Then maybe they could put this letter in that context. WH reporters are supposed to be specialists in this kind of thing. Let’s hear from them, instead of just ridiculing taxpayers with questions.
16. LaughingAtYou | 03.24.09
Another non-issue of the nut jobs to distract from the problems at hand. Either way, you idiots get what you deserve after 8 years of your ‘god made me president’ doofus. You had Bush, you messed up the country, now we have the power and the desire to change it to something you can’t stand - a place where we all have a voice. Sit back, shut up, and get over the fact that you lost everything because you had everything and nearly destroyed us all with your dogma, your political stupidity, and your insistence that your religion run my life. Idiots - now do as your told as the minority party you always were, before you started rigging elections.
17. pub | 03.25.09
Keep explaining away, liberal Marxists. You’ll be experts at it at the rate your Messiah is going.
18. pub | 03.25.09
jeliz: You wish the left would have done this to Bush? You must have just woken up from a long, long nap, about 8 years long. The hypocrisy of the Left never ceases to amaze me.
19. pub | 03.25.09
LaughingAtYou: You’re angry totalitarian Marxist bigot. You’ve been indoctrinated to stir up more hatred in the world. I don’t know why the liberals want us all to live under totalitarian rule and oppression against religion and hatred spewed constantly, even at the highest levels as your Obama did to small town Americans, but you’re not real Americans. You’re not even decent people.
That’s coming from a tolerant Atheist.
20. ZZMike | 03.25.09
Jimmy Carter has “superior skills”? OK, for a senile old anti-Semite, I suppose you could say his skills are superior. But even given that, I have to wonder, “superior to what?”.
22. laughing right back at you | 03.29.09
I love this perfect example of what we are dealing with. Ends one sentence saying we are all now going to have a voice, and then starts the next by telling conservatives to shut up.
…a place where we all have a voice. Sit back, shut up…
Could you ask for a more classic example of liberal free speech?
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. Ronsonic | 03.23.09
It is not that Obama misunderstands who is now President of France, but that he is ignoring him. This is roughly equivalent to Sarkozy sending an invitation to George W. Bush without having contacted or met with Barack Obama after the inauguration.
As for this, “in using the word ‘peace,’ Obama was offering an implicit homage to the former French president who had opposed the Iraq war.” We Americans have enough of a problem maintaining healthy relationships with our allies because of exactly this sort of difference between administrations. This sort of inference is not helpful to either nation. Again, it serves to snub the current French President. Who is obviously gracious and diplomatic enough to have not expressed any resentment. That is to his credit, not Obama’s.