Posted on 04/24/2008 1:52:23 PM PDT by blam
Unpopular Sarkozy turns 'gold into lead'
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 8:13pm BST 24/04/2008
President Nicolas Sarkozy is battling to convince an angry and disillusioned France that he deserves another chance a year after claiming power, amid accusations that he has turned his political capital from "gold into lead".
President Sarkozy's government has been damaged by bickering between ministers
Mr Sarkozy had an hour and a half last night on prime time television to counter claims that his reforms are half-baked, his glitzy style and turbulent private life inappropriate for a president, and that he has failed to address France's most pressing concern -rising living costs.
Five journalists questioned him in a specially designed futuristic studio at the Elysée palace, which had been transformed at great expense for the occasion.
After being emphatically elected on a pledge to "break" with past ways of governing and boldly implement an ambitious reform agenda, a batch of polls show that the country has all but turned its back on Mr Sarkozy after the first year of his five-year term.
In the months following his election, his popularity was the highest of any French President since Charles de Gaulle.
But a poll in Le Parisien newspaper yesterday showed he is the country's most unloved leader in half a century, well behind Gen de Gaulle but also his predecessor Jacques Chirac.
In another, in Paris Match, 72 per cent of those questioned said they were dissatisfied with his first year in power.
Pierre Moscovici, a Socialist deputy, said: "Nicolas Sarkozy had a very strong legitimacy; he won one of the most stunning presidential elections in the Fifth Republic.
"He had gold in his hands. He transformed that gold into lead."
Mr Sarkozy's vertiginous fall from grace began early this year after a long post-election honeymoon.
At first, the French were enamoured with his fiercely energetic style and his promise to wrench France out of its economic lethargy.
He scored some palpable successes, including reforming an unfairly generous pensions regime for transport and other state workers.
He skilfully contributed to pushing through the new European Union Treaty. Unemployment in France also stands at its lowest rate since 1983.
However, most reforms have been less far-reaching than expected, producing marginal results.
Last month, a supposedly drastic plan to slash the civil service turned out to represent a paltry 0.1 per cent of GDP - a tiny amount given the much larger sum France borrows to remain solvent.
Other measures have been watered down or worryingly shelved in the face of public disapproval, such as deregulating the taxi industry.
Some Right-wingers from his ruling UMP party wonder whether he has the mettle for tougher reforms ahead.
The sudden global financial downturn has shrunk his room for manoeuvre, while the French have not forgiven their self-styled "president of purchasing power" for admitting in January that he could not help them as the "state coffers are empty".
It was the juxtaposition of this sudden admission of powerlessness and his glamorous "bling-bling" presidential style that caused his popularity to plummet over the winter.
His divorce, followed by his very public courtship of Carla Bruni ending in marriage, shocked the French.
Worse, his impulsive private life seemed to spill over into his politics with a series of undignified outbursts.
A calmer presidential tone and the faultless support of Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy had started restoring his popularity of late.
But in recent weeks he has been damaged by public bickering between ministers and government U-turns on social reforms.
The impression of government disarray has been made worse by accounts of feuding between Mr Sarkozy and his prime minister, Francois (cedilla) Fillon, who is currently more popular than him.
There is growing speculation that Mr Fillon will be fired by the end of the year.
In a sign of his irritation, Mr Fillon yesterday took the unusual step of calling on Mr Sarkozy to "give direction on the reforms that need to be enacted" and a "road map" for those ahead.
Still, the President is by no means down and out.
The Socialist politician Julian Dray admitted in a recently released book: "Those who think that the rupture between the President and the people is irreversible are sorely mistaken."
Jean d'Ormesson, a commentator writing in Le Figaro, said: "Mr Sarkozy is lucky that the crisis has come so early."
Sarkozy’s first order of business after getting elected was to start chasing some very oft-used tail. Unimpressive.
huh I thought only America borrowed money to keep the government functioning. Well they have a strong currency, nothing bad can happen if you have a strong currency.
“He had gold in his hands. He transformed that gold into lead.”
It’s the same BS the libs used against Bush.
OK.
The Telegraph hates him.
I consider that a point in his favour.
Exactly right. My thoughts turned in that direction the instant I started reading. Thanks for saying it before me :)
All you have to do to get lambasted in the press is to be the least bit conservative.
Surely it takes more than that to shock the French.
But yes, French Presidents develop a Louis XIV complex.
The start to think "L'etat, C'est moi.'
Sarkozy just got too bad a case too quickly.
Voters just didn't have time to adapt to his apotheosis, as they did with the transformation of Chirac, Mitterand, Giscard, Pompidou, or De Gaulle.
The quote in the headline comes from one of his socialist enemies.
If you are a conservative in high office, you must never imagine you will be liked by socialists or by their flacks in the press. It will never happen.
Sarkozy wasn't elected by them, he was elected by the people. But the people don't print newspapers, socialists do.
The French like Carla very much. His marrying her was a plus in their book.
Isn’t the Telegraph the right-leaning paper in England?
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