SARKOZY:  NO BAMA - AT 7:58 P.M. ET:  One of the more startling developments recently has been the public criticism that President Obama is getting from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.  The idea that France would move to the right of America takes some getting used to, but get used to it.  From The Wall Street Journal, which reports that both Britain and France wanted disclosure of Iran's new secret nuclear plant to be made at the UN last week, for maximum effect, not in Pittsburgh, at the G-20:

President Sarkozy in particular pushed hard. He had been "frustrated" for months about Mr. Obama's reluctance to confront Iran, a senior French government official told us, and saw an opportunity to change momentum. But the Administration told the French that it didn't want to "spoil the image of success" for Mr. Obama's debut at the U.N. and his homily calling for a world without nuclear weapons, according to the Paris daily Le Monde. So the Iran bombshell was pushed back a day to Pittsburgh, where the G-20 were meeting to discuss economic policy.

And...

...the French President let his frustration show with undiplomatic gusto in his formal remarks, laying into what he called the "dream" of disarmament. The address takes on added meaning now that we know the backroom discussions.

"We are right to talk about the future," Mr. Sarkozy said, referring to the U.S. resolution on strengthening arms control treaties. "But the present comes before the future, and the present includes two major nuclear crises," i.e., Iran and North Korea. "We live in the real world, not in a virtual one." No prize for guessing into which world the Frenchman puts Mr. Obama.

French leaders have traditionally excoriated Americans for being too belligerent, not "soft" enough.  This is exactly the opposite.

"I support America's 'extended hand.' But what have these proposals for dialogue produced for the international community? Nothing but more enriched uranium and more centrifuges. And last but not least, it has resulted in a statement by Iranian leaders calling for wiping off the map a Member of the United Nations. What are we to do? What conclusions are we to draw? At a certain moment hard facts will force us to make decisions."

We thought we'd never see the day when the President of France shows more resolve than America's Commander in Chief for confronting one of the gravest challenges to global security. But here we are.

COMMENT:  Of course, this got little attention in the mainstream media, which is nostalgic for the days of Jacques Chirac, that great friend of all our fifty states.  But Sarkozy is clearly saying what others in Europe are thinking.  And Europe is moving to the right.

September 29, 2009