Sarkozy's soap opera

22.01.2008

Publié par le journal allemand "Der Spiegel"

SARKOZY'S SOAP OPERA

The President and the Pop Star Leave French Public Cold

Sex, politics, fame and public office: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, the president and the pop star, are everywhere these days. It's the latest soap opera from the cradle of modern democracy.

Every French television news program is reporting the same story these days, while a look at the Internet or the morning papers offers fewer surprises than a croissant and a café au lait: "Are they married?" "Will Carla travel with him to India for a state visit?" "A secret honeymoon in Italy?"

PHOTO GALLERY: FRANCE FED UP WITH THE SARKOZY BRUNI SHOW

Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (10 Photos)

The stories about the private amours of French President Nicolas Sarkozy continued to circulate (more...) over the weekend. There wasn't a single rumor or bit of speculation about the president and his new girlfriend that wasn't being printed, broadcast or downloaded somewhere in France. By this point, it should come as no surprise that the French president's omnipresence in the media has finally reached a saturation point. "It's a veritable 'Sarkonami,' a tidal wave that washes away everything in its path; his appearances are practically drowning us," the Catholic newspaper Le Croix wrote derisively. "Soon we will need only three television shows every day: Sarko in the Morning, Sarko at Noon and Sarko in the Evening."

REPRINTS

Find out how you can reprint this SPIEGEL ONLINE article in your publication.

Nevertheless, the spin doctors at the Élysée Palace continue to dream up new episodes of the Sarko Show, using the marketing rules of the previous evening's programming as their guideline. "We are here so that we can spend the next five years writing a story with the French," says Cathérine Pégard, the president's PR advisor and media trendsetter. The script for this love story between the people and their sovereign is updated daily. "To be truly in touch with the French people, Sarkozy must be as mobile as possible," says Pégard, "which is why he is compressing the episodes, thus creating the impression of doing many things at the same time, or at least more than most people."

'Sarkozy Is Busy Dismantling the Fifth Republic'

This sort of armchair psychology cannot conceal the fact that Sarkozy is losing public support, and not just because his economic promises have failed to materialize. The media is still basking in the glow of the presidential soap opera's ratings explosion and most of the questions that were asked at Sarkozy's New Year's press conference had to do with the president's emotional state.

Nevertheless, the public's fascination for Sarkozy's Elysée escapades is gradually acquiring a bitter aftertaste. To citizens with conservative values, the champion of the "irreproachable republic is practically dismantling the Fifth Republic with his behavior," philosopher Michel Onfray told SPIEGEL.

The consequences for Sarkozy's popularity are unmistakable. His approval rating has plunged by a drastic 10 percent within the last two months. According to a poll conducted by BVA, a public opinion research group, 48 percent of the French now have a negative view of their president. "Arithmetically speaking, Sarkozy is becoming unpopular for the first time," BVA concludes.

"The relationship between opinions about the president and income levels has never been so clear," explains demographer Jérôme Sainte-Marie, although he admits: "For the older generation, financial considerations are not the only factor. Their views also reflect value judgments about the president's lifestyle in recent weeks."

Sarkozy's predecessors -- from Charles de Gaulle to Jacques Chirac -- presided over the fortunes of the nation from their downtown palace on Rue Saint Honoré Élysée with the patriarchal demeanor of kings. In performing their duties, the standard bearers of the Fifth Republic concentrated on the areas of diplomacy and foreign policy, leaving the daily grind of running the country to their prime ministers.

"For Nicolas Sarkozy, power is not subservient to a mission or a grand ambition," says Paul Thibaud, an essayist and former director of the monthly publication Esprit. "In doing so, he satisfies a personal sense of dissatisfaction that he has never come to terms with. This explains his restlessness, his bulimia. The country's highest office has not brought him serenity."

RELATED SPIEGEL ONLINE LINKS

While Socialist President François Mitterrand pursued a visionary dream of "a certain idea of France," Sarkozy's omnipresence is tantamount to the principle of monarchy: "L'état, c'est moi" or "I am the state." "Sarkoism," as Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande mockingly dubs the self-confident and self-important antics of the president, "is not a doctrine, but narcissism." If one thing is clear, it is that Sarkozy is someone who, despite being rhetorically grounded in the depths of history, cultivates a consistently relaxed relationship with money and glamour. His admirers describe it as "an attitude without complexes," while his critics call it "shameless."

Sarkozy likes to portray himself as a "child of mixed parentage" from Hungary with a difficult childhood ("No one gave me anything"). Despite his upper-class background, during his lengthy journey up the social ladder Sarkozy consistently sought, with unconcealed envy, to align himself with the rich, the influential, celebrities and the jet set. As the mayor of Neuilly, a posh Paris suburb, he recruited his friends from the ranks of corporate executives and high-flying financial types. On the night of his election win, a group of his closest friends met at Fouquet's, an exclusive Paris restaurant, to raise a toast to Sarkozy and his victory -- and to celebrate the symbiotic relationship between power and Mammon.

What happened to the candidate who, only a year ago, was standing at factory gates and on factory floors singing the noble tune of the ordinary man, portraying himself as the candidate of a "France that wants to get up early in the morning?" What happened to the campaigner who vocally upbraided the people he called "capitalist crooks," that unprincipled caste of corporate executives who, despite professional failure, can always be assured of the soft landings their golden parachutes guarantee?

'A Real Man in the Élysée'

Forgotten, suppressed, discarded. "Politicians overestimate the feelings of envy and resentment that they attribute to our fellow citizens," Sarkozy said a few years ago. During a recent audience with Pope Benedict XVI, he criticized contemporary society for its "material superficiality, the breakneck pace of consumption and the accumulation of wealth." But his own furtive creed sounded a tad different when he confided in -- of all people -- Ségolène Royal, his adversary in the presidential election campaign: "Should I decide to leave the Elysée," he admitted to the Socialist candidate, "it will be to make money."

NEWSLETTER

Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In- Box everyday.

He already seems to enjoy showing off the trappings of wealth and importance, all the while exhibiting the naïve pride of the social climber: my watch, my cigar, my fiancée. Even his fellow party members disapproved of his decision, in an era of rapidly rising living costs, to give himself a 170-percent salary increase. "I am saving taxpayers' money," he says, in self-defense, when his wealthy friends pay for his jet-set outings with Bruni. "Can't the poor man pay for his own vacation, just as ordinary people like us do?" asks Jean, the owner of a bistro near Place Vendôme in Paris.

Six weeks before the municipal elections in early March, which the president has inflated into a national litmus test of his policies, Sarkozy ought to be concerned about the shift in public opinion, and yet he still seems unimpressed by his critics. "I live my life," he says, "and I couldn't care less about the comments of others. During the last 12 years, people became accustomed to seeing grandpa and grandma in the Élysée. I have a new style. The whole world will have to get used to it. Now the French have a real man in the Élysée, a man who has something between his legs and uses it."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan