Sarko and Carla: New Hope for a New Europe?

As a French citizen, I am more interested than most Americans in the happenings across the pond with regards to France and Europe. Thus, naturally, when I heard the news of French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s messy divorce from his wife, Cecilia, and his subsequent marriage to Italian heiress and former-supermodel turned singer, Carla Bruni, I was to put it mildly, troubled. To me, it seemed like a Donald Trump-esque move from an already controversial president: trading in the older model for a hotter, richer, newer one.

Cecilia was no great favourite with the French—loud, unpredictable, and blatantly unfaithful, she told a reporter who asked her where she saw herself in five years that her dream would be to live in Manhattan and jog in Central Park. To be the wife of the French president and to have your ultimate goal in life be to leave France and “faire du footing” seems a little odd to me.

But back to the wedding of Sarko and Carla—After the marriage of the new president, France’s critical eyes were turned on Carla Bruni, the new Madame le president. What would she do? Was she just a pretty and—ahem—rich girl seeking to propel herself into France’s high political circles? Most importantly: How long would they last?

After several months of scrutiny, however, the French (including myself) have fallen in love with Carla. There’s a lot to like about her: she’s an elegant and fresh breath of air into one of Europe’s oldest and most unchanging countries and her influence over her new husband seems to be doing a lot of good. Sarko seems settled and content and, now that his PR nightmares have drifted away with his ex-wife, he has gained popularity. When in France visiting family, I spoke to family friends about the President’s new wife. From young to old, they all rave about her. “She’s so good for him.” “I think she’s good for France.” “Carla is a great face for France.” “I love her music,” one person told me. “She hasn’t much of a voice, but her lyrics are wonderful.”

And far from the typical celebrity (that’s what they are, isn’t it?) marriage, it seems like it might—dare I say it?—last. They seem so well-suited to each other and Carla appears to be a great calming influence. There are even rumours that she might be pregnant. For me, this is a whole new chance for Sarko to start afresh, get focused, and make France better. How often can people boast that they have hope in politicians? Also, as France tends more towards a European identity, a successful presidential couple with backgrounds representing the new and growing France (he is descended from Greek and Hungarian Jews and she from Italian tycoons), might be the best recipe for France right now.

In conclusion, I don’t know much about French politics. All I have to say is that I love Carla (I even bought her CD!) and I hope that she continues to inspire hope in the French.

Oh, and what happened to Cecilia? No need to worry; she's doing just fine. She married her lover shortly after the divorce and has since moved to an expensive apartment in Manhattan. Go figure...

Madame le President? Bah oui!

* * *

Je suis une enfant
Malgré mes quarante ans
Malgré mes trente amants
Une enfant
….
Mon âme conteste ma peau proteste
Moi je rêve de maintenant
Car je suis une enfant
Je tourne le dos au temps
Cheveux et jupe au vent
Une enfant

Copyright 2008, Teorema et Carla Bruni

The End of Summer

I looked at the calendar today and realized that it's just over a week until I move back to school. Now, I'm not going to say, "Gee gosh, this summer went by fast," because it didn't go by that fast. In fact, it was a very good summer, the best I have had in years.

Reasons why I had a good summer:

1. I feel like I accomplished a lot of things. I did a lot of reading--for example, I've read 18 out of my 23 books on my summer reading list thus far. I did some writing, gardening, took long bike rides, went to Europe, etc.

2. I actually saw people. This is a big change from the past. Usually, I don't see anyone my own age / my friends for the entire summer, and instead read all the time and get bored out of my mind. Not so this summer. I visited people, I made "hanging out" dates, I went to people's houses. Totally awesome.

3. I feel healthy. I've been eating well, taking care of myself, troubleshooting and I feel prettier and healthier than I did at the beginning of the summer.

I just realized that this post has been kind of lame. But it's all true. So there :)

THE END