A tale of two Presidencies

The country is weary of its president and his jeans-wearing, gunslinger style. It’s weary of what they perceive as his middlebrow taste, his sometimes inappropriate behaviour, and his disdain for anything intellectual or cultural. He is a subject of ridicule among the thinking classes, who say he represents the worst sort of American taste and manner. I’m referring here, of course, to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French fashion plate. As much as a world leader who arrives late for his audience with the Pope and then reportedly sends a text message during the meeting is a boon to the French political-humour industry, it has to be said that the reign of Sarkozy… is beginning to get to the delicate Paris intelligentsia, who cling to their culture the way Americans do their guns and religion. There are those outside France… who feel that Sarkozy and his glamorous new wife, Carla Bruni, bring a breath of fresh air to a country whose politics are both baroque and broke.

It can fairly be said that politics brings out the worst in people. And at times simply the worst people… In less than a year, the Bush administration will strut out of office, leaving the country in roughly the same condition a toddler leaves a diaper… I subscribe to the theory that politics should be treated like a utility — you should be aware that it is there, and it must be monitored, but you shouldn’t have to keep your eye on it every minute… If the Bush White House represents the Dark Ages of American politics, it will be the next president who must begin the Renaissance… The Italians, the French, and the English marvel at the quality of the presidential hopefuls we have to choose from. And you can see their point. Great Western leaders are in short supply these days, and by this measure, we could do a lot worse. It is not the candidates themselves that are the problem; it’s the way they must behave to get to the White House that is so unsettling. Presidential politics demands such levels of unmanly, unwomanly, unbecoming, and unsportsmanlike behaviour that if your children acted like this you’d damn well take them over your knee.

Excerpted from an article by Graydon Carter in ‘Vanity Fair’