A New Dawn: America's New Friends, the French

Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected President of the French Republic. One of the remarkable things he did was to send a victory message to the United States. "You can count on France as a friend."

France as a friend? I'm not sure I know how to act.

Mind France has not always been an aggravation for the United States, at once snotty, arrogant, and hypocritical. Not to mention not in any position to criticize anyone. There is the small matter of French troops fighting side by side the Americans during the Revolution. Very much appreciated. And the Statue of Liberty was a cool gift. And let's not forget the wine, Jules Verne, Francois Truffaut, and Alexandre Dumas.

But it seems to me that since the dawn of the twentieth century, the relationship between France and the United States, begun so well at Yorktown, has gotten a little bit sour. Thrice in the last century American blood and American treasure has saved La Belle France from destruction, from the Kaiser, from Hitler, and from the Soviets, What America got in return, instead of gratitude, was instead a puzzling kind of resentment. Americans were all cowboys (a curious insult which can only come from a people who never met any real cowboys), unsophisticated, uncultured, too reckless, too prone to shoot bad people instead of dealing with them in the French way.

My view is this is because the French have never really gotten over Napoleon. Imagine. At one time La Belle France held sway over almost all of Europe. Paris was the center of the universe, culturally, as well as politically. But then Napoleon over reached by invading Russia. A little while later he met his Waterloo and France's days as a super power were over.

Sure, France had it's own colonial empire, which seemed to be the European measuring stick to see who had the biggest--well--package back in the 19th Century. But never again would France be more than a second tier power. Britannia ruled the waves and, as the 19th Century plodded on, Germany became the big European power. Later the two big powers were the United States and Soviet Russia. By that time France has lost its colonial empire, which featured messes in South East Asia and Algeria.

What France did not lose was its pride. How did it come to pass that the very existence of La Belle France was dependent on a bunch of uncouth, unwashed Americans? Worse, American movies and American television had all but swamped French and European culture. It was a humiliation not to be borne. France struck back in the only way it could. By sneering.

And by being a little like the Americans as possible. American embraced capitalism? France would be socialistic, a system that seems to operate the same whether the government is socialist or Gaullist. America opposed Soviet expansion? France would not participate. And the War on Terror? Mais non!

The problem was that French economic policies have produced the most anemic economy in Europe. And France's tendency to appease just about any enemy in the world, currently the Islamofascists, has not bought it any peace. Unruly Muslim youth have run rampant through French cities. How could such a thing be?

Even the French, apparently, will refuse to put up with nonsense forever, even if it means changing their minds and actually electing a pro American President. And that gives one reason to hope. It's also the third time (after Canada and Germany) that an American ally was changed its government for one that is more friendly to America. Pretty good, considering that we keep being told that President Bush is making enemies everywhere.

What does the future hold? We'll see, though I don't expect to see Foreign Legion troops helping to clear out the pest holes in Sadr City any time soon. But i do wish Sarkozy the best of luck on those free market reforms. And I welcome France fully to the fight against Islamofascism.

In the meantime I will toast the election of Nicolas Sarkozy with the best French champagne the wallet will allow. And I look forward to once against tasting French fries. Freedom fries just were not the same.

The transformation of France from a socialist paradise to a free market country will not please everyone. Where will Senator John Francois Kerry consider his spirtual home now? And where will Alec Baldwin threaten to flee to the next time the Republicans win an election? Syria? I think not.