Sarkozy

By Cernig

Just as the folks over at National Review are wondering if they finally have their man in Paris, President Sarkozy's victory speech indicates that while he might sign on to many tenets of the American far right such as a Tancredo style approach to immigration, he will stand up for French interests and won't hew to what his friends over the pond see as the catechism for conservatism. Like U.S. foreign policy and climate change, for example.

To France's "American friends," Sarkozy said: "They can count on our friendship."

"I want to tell them that France will always be by their side when they need," he said. "But I also want to tell them that friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions."

"A great nation, like the United States, has a duty not to block the battle against global warming but — on the contrary — to take the lead in this battle, because the fate of the whole of humanity is at stake."

Like that was a surprise. The man built his campaign around a "France and Frenchmen First" motif.