What the France

In an unsurprising tactic, France receded into the fetal position to allow for the current world economic crisis to blow over.

You would think that was the case with stereotypical France, but President Sarkozy has affirmed both himself and his country as the leaders in Europe by proposing a multitude of ideas and plans to alleviate the financial troubles. The land of fries and bread does happen to be the current European Union President for six months. That being said, I cannot see Sarkozy stepping away from this role at the end of his term, while Europe so desperately needs a vocal icon.

The New York Times presented two of the Parisian Prince’s initiatives this week, “The first is a European sovereign fund to protect the ownership of important businesses with suddenly low stock prices. The other is a ‘unified economic government’ of the European Union…” I honestly do not know if these possess the possibility of happening or even working. From an American viewpoint, I must enjoy them. This allows the U.S. to withdraw more from European affairs since a trusted leader has taken the reigns.

Our next leader (I predict Bob Barr in a landslide) will be influenced by the energetic Frenchman. Like it or not, we love France and follow them whenever we can. Just look at nuclear power, bottled water (Jim Gaffigan reference), French bread, French fries, and this article. Clearly Barack Obama has taken a similar, proposal-laden approach while John McCain is not far off. The 44th president will “write checks their tush can’t cash”, but leaders must do this in problematic times for the morale of their populace. Yes, Sarkozy and the next president will be harshly criticized and ultimately buried if they do not succeed in the voters’ eyes; welcome to the joy of democracy.

I could be entirely wrong, which would not be surprising. Czar Cozy may easily be pulling an ingenious political stunt. Both his reputation and favorability have increased in recent months due to his lively actions. We all love leaders who face crisis head-on (apply directly to forehead) and this could be just that.