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The Sarkozy Blitz
"We're being bombarded" was the complaint from one French journalist on the media schedule of President Nicolas Sarkozy. "We're drowning", another grumbled.
The Head of State is preparing for an autumn of discontent. On Tuesday he laid out his proposals for reforming France's employment laws and special pensions regimes. Wednesday saw him argue that he wouldn't replace 20,000 civil servants due to retire. On Thursday he declared he would take the battle to Europe's Central Bank, calling on it to do more to protect industry. Today he vowed to create a research centre for the study of Alzheimer's disease.
The media, meanwhile, is being tugged left and right by a man one hack described as "the Jimi Hendrix of communications management, a virtuoso."
"He chooses the terrain. He chooses the timing. He leads the dance", continued Bernard Zekri, editorial director of Canal Plus and i-Télé, "It's like another Tour de France".
As the hyperactive "Super Sarko" makes his case to the nation, journalists are being bombarded with an unprecedented array of interviews, quotes and soundbites from the Elysée Palace.
President Jacques Chirac would make declarations perhaps once a month, studiously avoiding microphones at times of national crisis such as 2006's conflict on the CRE employment contract. Before him, François Mitterand would rarely speak to the nation (and when he did, his pronouncements were often Delphic).
Sarkozy, however, left-wing newspaper Libération claims, is everywhere, always. Broadcasters, newspapers and news agencies follow him in a pack, as the President generates headlines with each visit and each statement. Journalists complain that the sheer volume of activity generated by the new President prevents them from doing their job properly: There's no time to work, to make phone calls, to check facts, one said.
Last night, Sarkozy invited senior journalists from France's two top terrestrial broadcasters to join him in the Elysée for a prime-time interview. He repeated his pledge to reform France's economy and his willingness to take on the EU on issues of national importance. Nothing hugely new - Sarko had promised much the same on Tuesday and earlier that day - but once again, the President's interview made the headlines, with newspapers, bloggers and broadcasters decorating their pages with more quotes and photos from the session.
In many respects, Sarkozy is living up to what he sees as his job description. He is a perpetual motion machine, unwilling to rest not only because it isn't in his nature, but because he realises there is work to be done. And the President, who has taken responsibility to get France back to work, needs to be seen to be working himself. Almost as if his bustling activity will rub off on his countrymen.
Reporters told Libé that no-one wants to drop out from Sarkozy's entourage because they are frightened of missing something important. It's true that France's press is transfixed by the President, but they - or the bosses who they moan are ordering them to pursue Sarkozy - are no mugs. Sarkozy is the central figure in what is likely to be a grand struggle for France's future. Some unions have already called a strike for October 19 in response to his plans. European Union leaders are already weary of his forthrightness and are scheming ways to slap the French upstart down.
Both the unions and others on the left would love to see some of Sarkozy's magic wiped away. Serious trouble in the streets, already threatened by the leader of the most militant union, could break the spell, should Sarkozy or his government back down. Who would take Super Sarko seriously if he fails to face down the hard men of the Communist CGT, determined to ensure its members retire at 55 or even 50 on full pay?
In truth, however, his enemies struggle to keep up, just as the press pack does. In May, the new President wrongfooted Socialists by poaching some of the left's leading talent for his representative government. Four months on, the Socialists can barely make themselves heard over the din of the barrage pounding from the Elysée (the fact that the Socialists themselves are in the midst of a fierce battle for the heart of the party only helps Sarkozy).
As for the media? Sarkozy is friendly with some of the most powerful men in France's newspaper and broadcasting world. Despite - or perhaps because of this - he has never been loved by journalists, who in France like many other Western nations often lean heavily to the left. For many in the press, the President's non-stop media cabaret, hosted by his newspaper-owning cabal, has echoes of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. Sarkozy's affection for the US is dangerous; his admiration for "can-do" Anglo-Saxon policies is worrying; his provocation of the EU risks opening old wounds; his stern rhetoric on Iran's nuclear weapons program risks disaster.
But still, they have to hang on to his every word. One can't help but think that they're loving it: They've never been this close to power.
