A lot of bloated rhetoric, most of it economic and political babble disguised as calls for more of the same, gets posted on editorial pages every day.
Every now and then, however, somebody writes a line or three that's as fresh and pure as newly fallen snow when it comes to truth.
In today's Financial Times, Gaspard Koenig's, "No laughs in Sarkozy's Groundhog Day" return, fills that bill.
Taking a page from Hollywood, Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French leader, reinvented himself yet again on Facebook this past week with his Phoenix-like statements about going to the mountain top of self-examination since his departure from public life.
Bottom line: It's a new Sarkozy, one who will do what he didn't do before.
Sarkozy's in good company. Politicians along with movie stars are noted for re-inventing themselves. Think Richard Nixon after his devastating losses as a presidential and gubernatorial candidate way back when politicians were just understated skilful liars compared to today's new breed of arrogant, pompous liars.
Koenig's description of Sarkozy's spiritual reformation says more--and says it better--than we need to say. The beauty and truth of his piece rests in a few paragraphs. And though this is our comparison not Koenig's, those few paragraphs apply more so today than ever to the U.S.
What France needs, though, is to revive its liberal DNA and make a clean break with its postwar tradition of state interventionism, heavy centralization and top-down paternalism. Our country possesses all the necessary assets to flourish in a globalized world if only it were liberated from a stifling mix of ever-changing regulations and authoritarian bureaucracy.
How could Mr Sarkozy be the right man to achieve that? Under his leadership, public spending and public debt increased by 15 percent and 30 percent respectively, a score of new taxes was created, the total number civil servants kept rising, the French state acquired more stakes in private companies than ever before and a number of civil liberties were threatened.
There was no shaking in Koenig's voice here. And none in ours.
t. man hatter
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