Sarkozy insults Obama, Merkel, Zapatero

Fri, 04/17/2009 - 8:57am

French President Nicholas Sarkozy is under fire for comments about a number of his fellow world leaders that he allegedly made at a closed-door lunch with members of parliament. The comments were, not surprisingly, leaked to French newspaper Liberation. Sarkozy on Barack Obama:

Obama has a subtle mind, very clever and very charismatic... But he was elected two months ago and had never run a ministry. And he is not always up to standard on decision-making and efficiency."

On Angela Merkel:

Once she realised the state of her banks and her car industry, she had no choice but to come round to my position."

Worst of all, on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:

Perhaps he's not very clever but I know people who were very clever and who did not make the second round of the presidential election."

Not sure that Sarkozy's in the best position to commenting on anyone's cleverness right now. 

Joshua Keating | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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The first two comments are

by nquixote on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 11:52am

The first two comments are not insults. They are frank assessments.

The first two comments are

by nquixote on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 11:54am

The first two comments are not insults. They are frank assessments.

French paper rumours put Sarkosy under fire

by dede on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 4:25pm

Just a polemic created by a leftist french paper called "Libération"

Who is stupid ?

by EricB on Sun, 04/19/2009 - 9:24am

"Not sure that Sarkozy's in the best position to commenting on anyone's cleverness right now."

Not sure the journalist who wrote this in the best position to commenting on Sarkozy's cleverness. You'd have to be pretty stupid to imagine that "Perhaps he's not very clever but I know people who were very clever and who did not make the second round of the presidential election." could be an evaluation of Zapatero's intelligence. It is merely a response to someone who probably stated that Zapatero is not intelligent. It' like saying "Yes, you might say he is not intelligent, but at least he got reelected twice"(meaning not like the French socialist Jospin, who didn't even make the first round in the 2002 presidential election).

Besides, this whole stupid affair shows the despair of French socialist party who has nothing else to try to raise some kind of credibility in the country.
Pathetic.

hardly insults

by eddie825 on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 12:27am

hardly insults

Good thing we can get some

by AllanGreen on Mon, 04/20/2009 - 6:06am

Good thing we can get some frank assessments. Thanks to Sarkozy we know

1) That Obama didn't give a hoot about Erdogan's twisting NATO's arms on Rassmussen
2) That his nuclear stuff is PR
3) That foreign leaders are seeing him as inefficient, and full of himself - but charmingly intelligent.

Speaking of Sarkozy - find me another world leader with as much work-ethic and drive. Please, just one would be enough.