What is it about the French? Even Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, who wears a "world citizen" badge on his tweed jacket like a ski pass, has had enough. He excoriates French "duplicity" at the United Nations, adding, "France is so caught up with its need to differentiate itself from America to feel important, it's become silly." Which brings to mind Karl Marx's quip about Louis Napoleon: history repeats itself, but the first time was tragedy, and the second time was farce. Today's French farce is the remnant of something tragic: the confusion of French national peculiarity with...