BECAUSE TWO CENTURIES OF DECLINE ISN'T ENOUGH FOR THEM?:

French Front-Runner's American Style (Molly Moore and John Ward Anderson, April 19, 2007, Washington Post)

He urges young people to embrace Martin Luther King Jr. as a role model. He is a devotee of Hollywood movies, and his favorite author is Ernest Hemingway. He wrote a book preaching the gospel of the American work ethic to a nation that clings to a 35-hour workweek.

None of which may seem remarkable, except that the man in question -- Nicolas Sarkozy -- is running for president of France, which typically turns up its nose at such flagrant displays of Yankee Doodlism. And he is leading in all the polls.

"I don't see why my country doesn't take inspiration from its great ally," Sarkozy, former interior minister and now candidate of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement, wrote in his recently updated political autobiography. "I love the value Americans place on work and the desire for excellence that you find everywhere."

Sarkozy's unabashed admiration of the United States has earned him the disparaging moniker "Sarko the American." [...]

"He is not the epitome of the average French guy -- he likes mobility, the capacity to anticipate, to change views, which is more American than French," said Philippe Ridet, a veteran French political reporter who has written a biography of Sarkozy. "He likes Capra's and John Ford's America. Their films, in which your future can always be improved, fascinate him."