Coming from the unsophisticated, conservative NY Sun, I'm sure this is meant as a put-down, but it's heartening to think we could possibly be part of the world again.'A CERTAIN ELEGANCE’ IS SEEN
By MICHAEL MANVILLE Special to the Sun
PARIS — It could be the flawless French he learned while at boarding school in Switzerland. Or that he summered in his youth at a picturesque village on the rocky shores of Brittany. Or his pledge to take America’s allies more seriously and pursue an inclusive foreign policy.
Or maybe it’s the simple fact that he’s not President Bush.
Whatever the reason, the French are going wild for John Kerry.
His face graces the covers of magazines and newspapers on Paris newsstands. He’s the subject of radio phone-in and television talk shows. Journalists chase down distant relatives and long-forgotten acquaintances in search of anecdotes.
If November’s presidential election were being held here, there’s no doubt that Mr. Kerry, the Massachusetts senator and Democratic candidate, would win by a landslide.
“People are going crazy. My phone is ringing from morning to night because everybody wants to know about Kerry,” said the head of the France chapter of Democrats Abroad, Constance Borde. “I’m even getting calls from French people asking if they can contribute to the campaign, and of course I have to tell them no.This is something I’ve never seen happening.”
It seems hard to imagine the French being enthusiastic about anything American these days. Under Mr. Bush, relations between France and America have been at their lowest ebb in decades, with the two nations trading jabs for more than a year over French opposition to the war in Iraq.
While Americans were muttering about “cheese-eating surrender monkeys,” the French were crying foul over “American imperialism” and burning Mr.Bush in effigy on the streets of Paris.
“There is no question the Bush administration is unpopular in France, as it is across Europe,” said the director of the French Center on the United States, Guillaume Parmentier.“Bush himself is deeply unpopular. He is perceived as being non-presidential; even his demeanor makes Europeans uneasy.”
But in Mr. Kerry, the French seem to have found an American they can embrace.
more…
http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/03/15&ID=Ar00104
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