How do the French view Sarkozy?

Question

Hi, I'm an American who for one has always been disappointed between the relations of our government with the French. I am fascinated with French history and culture and wish we shared a closer friendship. With Sarkozy there appears to be a marked improvement in our government's relations. My question is, "How does the general French public feel about Sarkozy? Is he liked or disliked? Thank you!

Answer 1

My tour guide while I was visiting France said, when asked what he thought about Sarkozy, said:

"Sarkozy? I would rather not get into that subject, too much hate."

Answer 2

OMG some could write a book about it; to sum up Sarkosy has a very bad image because he keeps disappointing people: they believed in his great promises and nothing happened. He is vulgar, he doesn't know how to speak and behave properly, he doesn't have self control, he does what he wants without consulting and the French don't like that, etc etc...

Answer 3

Sarkosy is a pur product of capitalism, this man does everything possible to make his rich friends happy and does not give a dam about the low classes. He also want us back in the NATO so we all think that he is selling the country to the US.

Sarkosy run the country like you run a compagny, for this reason 87% of the population dont trust him anymore.

Answer 4

Of course it depends if you are sharing his political opinions (very close or equivalent to the Republican Party).

I am more liberal so you can imagine how I dislike Sarko. I've never liked him... He was a political figures for years.

He is a lyer, is sly and he is more interested in his own image and picture in the media than anything else. He can not go to the restroom without 10 journalists behind his back... So we can see him every single day on TV for either for a press conference or because he is getting married, or because his son had a trafic violation with his scooter. It's a Sarkozy Overdose in the media for the French people. He reminds me those African dictator constantly on TV.

Not to mention how respectful he is with people not sharing his political views. Go on "You Tube" to see this video when he told a man ... "Get Lost, ******"" to a man who just refused to shake Sarkozy's hand at the "Salon de l'Agriculture few month ago".

What a democrat huh????

He did promise a lot during his election and of course, did not do a d**n good thing since then unless you called closing Maternities and Hospitals or Courthouses in the French countryside a good thing, or making tax privileges to rich people a fair law..

The poor people are getting poorer and the richest people are getting richer... Fair enough???

The illegals African are treated like animals at the airport or when they arrived starved and injured in the French territority (France is the Human-Right Country right???) and he dares giving lesson to the Americans about Guantanamo.. Unbelievable!

And of course, when France needs to sell his nuclear know-how or some Airbus aircrafts, let's treat the Chinese President like a King and a Democrat (no mention to him on the Human Rights, tortures etc) or let's Invite the Syrian President (Bashar El Assad) to Bastille's Day festivities... And Khadafi, this terrorist is now Sarko's best friend!!! Nice gesture for people who lost their love one during the Lockerby terrorist attack from the Lybians in the 80's.

Pathetic!!!



The only quality Sarko has is that he is a genius communicator... he has the amazing talent to manipulate people, to say beautiful speeches... But is this talent not the essential quality of a dictator??? Don't we have some other examples of dictators in our close history with this amazing talent???

I am French and ashamed of this President... Thanks god I don't live in France for years and I am not planning to in the near future... But I can see how my family and my friends are suffering, how the future is dark for their kids... I am not optimistic!!!

Answer 5

President Sarkozy has suffered something of a meltdown in his approval ratings. I recall that they were said to have fallen to as low as a 28% approval rating.

EDIT:

First, there is some disquietude about his personal life which has been a bit lurid even for a French politician.

Second, the French economy still leaves much to be desired and, as in most places, people don't get that you can't turn things around quickly.

Third, there has been a lot of howling from the Left about various programs, such as the student dossiers, which I have repeatedly heard excoriated as "fascist."

Four, the French are no kinder to their politicians than Americans are to theirs and tend to blame everything on them even when its completely beyond their control (oil prices, the weather, who won the Eurovision song contest).

EDIT#2: As you can see from Marjo's reply, emotions run very high concerning President Sarkozy.

Some other observations seem called for.

Saying that Sarkozy is akin to a Republican in the USA is, at best, a very crude  comparison. There is no easy comparison between French and American poltical parties.

To begin with there is no political party in France that is as big as either major American party but rather dozens of small parties which form temporary coalitions at election time.

Next, the range of poltical views held by parties with an effective impact in France is vastly wider than in the United States. Communists and Neo-n***s have an active presence in France. Such people exist in the United States but have absolutely no effective role in politics. In France, in the election before the last one, a Neo-n**i ran second in the presidential election.  In France, the Socialists are the principle opposition to Sarkozy. In the USA, socialists are regarded as far left wing extremists even by the Democrats.

By American standards, Sarkozy holds many positions which would be considered as being on the Left wing of the Democrat party. On the other hand, French Leftists hold some positions regarding Zionism and the State of Israel that would be seen as anti-semitic and therefore extreme right wing.