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Sarkozy's Hundred Days
Don't live by celebrity; you could die by celebrity
The new French President celebrated his first 100 days in power this week. It's been so far, so good for Nicolas Sarkozy, but his prolonged love-hate relationship with the media has caused a few ruffled feathers along the way.
First, there was the small matter of one of the President's 'love handles' being airbrushed from a photograph in Paris Match magazine. Rival newspaper L'Express printed a photo published in Paris Match showing the President rowing on a lake with his son; it published what it described as the "original" version of the image, which shows that the 52 year old President has an unsightly bulge spilling over the top of his shorts.
Paris Match was accused of beautifying the photo. All very amusing that a world leader should get the Kate Winslet treatment and have his curves removed by photoshop, particularly since Sarko is notoriously dedicated to cultivating the body beautiful. He is more regularly photographed jogging.
What worried France's media community, however, was that Sarkozy is great friends with the proprietor of Paris Match, Arnaud Largardère. Left-wing newspaper Libération said that Largardère had "done another service" for his "brother" Sarko: Paris Match's former editor was sacked following the publication of a photo of Sarkozy's wife Cécilia with another man when the couple were separated.
Apparently an insider at Paris Match told L'Express that it was perfectly normal for a man, particularly one of Sarkozy's age, to pack a little flab around the waist: The position on the canoe, with a low bottom and knees raised makes it more pronounced. Paris Match's photoeditors, then, were just normalising the image rather than contributing to the Sarko Superman myth.
While the French press frets that Sarkozy's influence in the media now extends to the preservation of his image (what next? adding bulging pecs? making the five foot six President taller?), the fuss about the images among the French public is more likely to be linked to another phenomenon rather than any shock that powerful figures are manipulating the media.
France, like Britain and the United States before, is in the grip of a celebrity frenzy. Magazines which print glossy images of France's jet set enjoying themselves are doing well, but websites and publications which print "warts and all" photographs of stars caught off guard are doing better. Photoshop-free images of celebrities without the attention of makeup artists or stylists fill the "pipole" magazines.
Sarkozy, more than any other President before him, likes showbusiness. He admires John F Kennedy, who knew the value of a good photoshoot; he is friends with Tony Blair, who used his relative youth and celebrity connections to project a dynamic image to contrast with a worn-out opposition (and to blag free holidays).
But Blair, too, was cut down to size by photographers when the honeymoon ended, with editorialists gloating about the middle-aged Prime Minister's receding hairline and "man boobs." Courting celebrities didn't pay off for the recently retired PM. In the late 1990s, he was hob-nobbing with rock stars like Oasis; post-Iraq, and when the young PM had become just another establishment figure, more fashionable stars kept their distance and Blair was reduced to hanging around with decrepit granny-rockers like Cliff Richard and members of the BeeGees and their bizarre entourage.
It doesn't seem to be a lesson the French President has been willing to learn. Sarkozy spoke with delight of the "bravery" of pop stars who "came out" as supporters during the Presidential election (as in most western countries, those performers who exhibit a preference are overwhelmingly left-wing).
Along with plenty of ageing St Tropez rockers, there were a couple of younger stars including Moroccan singer Faudel and rapper Doc Gyneco. Doc Gyneco was booed off stage in Switzerland in early August because of his support for Sarkozy, who is a hate figure among France's youth: If supporting a controversial President begins to damage your career, how long before you renounce that support?
More pressingly, perhaps, rock stars are notoriously unpredictable. Would the President be affected if one of the stars he has embraced is found in bed with a Scarface-size mountain of cocaine and a couple of teenage hookers?
Sarkozy displayed similar showmanship with his choice of cabinet. The public was delighted by the youthful, dynamic and multicultural cabinet he named. He pulled major figures from the opposition Socialist Party, like Bernard Kouchner, who became Foreign Minister. He named Fadela Amara, an inner-city women's rights activist, as the Secretary of State for Urban Policy.
Rather than stuff his government with reliable conservatives, Sarkozy was determined to make the cabinet reflect France's political make-up. It was a dazzling strategy which paid off in high approval ratings (though some grumbling from party loyalists who coveted the positions given to opponents), but it is a risky one.
Some in Sarkozy's cabinet are not natural allies of the abrasive, right-wing President. If the merde hits the fan with more riots in the banlieu, or the cops, who see Sarkozy as "one of them", get tough with some hoodlums, it will be difficult to present a united front as a cabinet. The resignation of a junior government minister is usually no big deal. But a minister appointed with such a fanfare, chosen to illustrate the President's inclusive nature... Doubtless there are some in Sarkozy's camp who believe he is playing with fire.
And then there's the missus.
Sarkozy is said to have told reporters that "the only thing I am worried about is Cécilia." The President's wife worries not only her husband, but many of Sarkozy's aides. The couple have a stormy relationship and have separated at least once. She didn't vote for him in the second round of the elections, and her appearance at his victory concert struck many as sulky. She is on record as saying she didn't fancy the life of a First Lady, but the release of six Bulgarian medics who had been held and tortured by Libya appears to have been orchestrated to place Mme Sarkozy in the saviour's role.
Earlier this month when the Presidential family were holidaying in the US, Cécilia was invited to lunch by Laura Bush. Cécilia accepted, and then cancelled, complaining of illness. Nicolas Sarkozy attended the informal meeting with the Bush family alone, bringing his wife's apologies - but Cécilia was photographed shopping with her daughters the following day.
Any of this must be an embarrassment for a man who is a self-confessed control freak. It is possible to make excuses for Cécilia's sore throat, but it is difficult to convince a sceptical media: Indeed, there are rumours in Paris that the marriage is over and the Sarkozy's are fulfilling a contract to appear as first couple.
A fiery relationship with his wife; a cabinet members who could do damage disproportionate to their power; hard-partying showbiz supporters... isn't politics unpredictable enough without surrounding yourself with accidents waiting to happen?
Thing is, a brilliant political operator like Sarkozy is aware of all this. Last year, he invited "Art" playwright Yasmina Reza to follow him around for a year and write a book about the experience. The subsequent book, "Dawn, Evening or Night" is already France's best-seller on Amazon, and hacks have pored through its pages looking for insight into the Presidential character.
Reza's Sarkozy, British newspapers report, comes across as "vain, childlike and egoist" (The Guardian) and "vain, self-obsessed and cruel" (The Times).
The reality, as ever, is more nuanced. Yes, Sarkozy is brusque with aides and scathing of critics. He calls Ségolène Royal a "poor cow" and variations on the term "arseholes" are never far from his lips when discussing pollsters and political editors. Bretons might not vote for him in future. "Who had this retarded idea? I don't give a shit about Bretons! I'm going to be surrounded by ten c**** looking at a map!" was his reported response to hearing his final campaign photoshoot was going to be at a radar station in Brittany (Much of Bretagne voted for Ségolène Royal).
But Reza seems to like the President, who she accompanied throughout the Presidential campaign. The French media rarely writes about his likeable side. Although she pointedly (and somewhat disappointedly) reports that Sarkozy never tried to seduce her, the two developed an interesting relationship, and one which drew out some of the President's humour: Not a characteristic often associated with Sarkozy.
Le Monde publishes this little exchange:
Sarkozy: Love, that's the only thing that counts.
Reza: I don't believe that. If you took away your social life, you'd despair.
Sarkozy: If I was taken away from my family, even more.
Reza: If you were to take yourself, Cécilia and the children to live in Maubeuge (a depressed northern French town), you'd throw yourself in the river.
Sarkozy: I would be King of Maubeuge within two years!
And another moment:
In the salon of the hotel before the Charleville-Mézières meeting, he grabbed a copy of Le Figaro from my knee and was visibly gripped by an article on the front page. The headline detailed an electoral reverse for Iranian President Ahmadinejad; at the bottom of the page was an advertisement. After reading for a few seconds, he said "That's a lovely Rolex."
Reza speaks of his boyishness, of how "the little boy became President." He talks of his "serenity" once he achieved his lifetime's ambition - but, as the above shows, he launched straight into creating another challenge for himself when he gained power.
By the sound of things, there is little in the book that will damage Sarkozy (except among Bretons). At the beginning of her mission, Sarkozy told Reza that "even if you demolish me, you will make me bigger." Perhaps he believes that no publicity is bad publicity?
