Saturday, July 26, 2008

Nicolas Sarkozy for US President!

Well, maybe not quite. He's the very postmodern President of France, after all. But many things he said in his speech before the joint houses of the US Congress make me wonder why we can't have leaders who so eloquently sound these notes celebrating tradition, honor, self-reliance, and fidelity. Some of the things Sarkozy says here militate against the culture of learned helplessness and state-dependence, which is the legacy of Democratic administrations like those of Lyndon Baines Johnson's "Great Society." As a left-wing Democratic Senator who makes Hillary and Bill look "centrist" on some issues, Senator Obama would not be caught dead saying some of the things Sarkosy says in this speech. And McCain, despite his uncontested record of sacrificial service to this country, simply doesn't have the rhetorical presence.

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