Love and Leadership.

Love and Leadership.

They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin’ great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet

Well, I don’t want no Short People.

Randy Newman.

Love is an awfully splendour thing. And multi purpose too. So this is one is on love. And on a man. And on rebuilding nations. And on the interdependence between these three.

I want to start out by setting a record here: the first nomination as man of the year 2008 of president Nicolas Sarkozy. He is the man who promised to change the French Republic. What he meant was that he wanted to make the country very, very neo liberal. He is a political male Margaret Thatcher in Paris. He could move to the Palais d’Elysée, Rue Faubourg Honorée 65, when, after last year’s elections, it turned out the French liked his policies better by far then the updated social-democracy of his opponent Ségolène Royal. So, instead of voting the first leftwing female President of France in office, they’ve got an ultra energetic, short, macho right winger now. He is not of my political branch. Not at all. But he belongs to the tribe of short people. Just like me. His height is 1.68 meter, while mine is 1.70. A secondary reason to choose him as my subject is because he might be a potential example for heads of state elsewhere. And, mostly hidden and unnoticed, his casus is a demonstration of female superiority over powerful men. I love that too.

I’ll explain.

Sarkozy is, judging by the publicity, a real character. While usually man are boring – the added sum of cars, careers and accounts in the bank – it’s their women that makes them interesting. That’s an opinion of a Dutch columnist, Martin Bril- and I do second that. I can point out some other men who seem to confirm the hypothesis 1). In Sarko’s case it is clear that he is fortunate to be blessed with women who make him very interesting indeed.

President Nicolas I is the naughty new boy on the block – different from his predecessors who all belonged to the old, vested, political elites of France. He is distinguishable from previous presidents like Mitterand or Chirac, who had the same appetite for women as he has. But Sarko does not conceal it. On the contrary. The political storms and strikes he faces, are being weathered by focussing the public opinion on his turbulent private life. And, for sure, he takes care to be involved with loads of trouble in this domain. He deliberately uses his love affairs in exactly the same extraordinary way magicians do: doing his political tricks by focussing the attention on the non-essentials.

His wife, tall, elegant, beautiful Cecilia, has dumped him. Actually we could see it happen on TV. The couple visited the US, but Cecilia refused to go with him to the banquet President Bush offered them. Sarko took care the press would notice the baling out of Cecilia.

Shortly after, back in France, Mrs Sarkozy told her husband to hit the road. He did and she did not keep quiet about it. She said he had done her wrong. Something about other women, I believe. That kind of stuff. It dominated the telly and the papers for a while. And Nicolas noticed it and was content.

The divorce was made official last November. Nicolas did bite the bullet and then kept his mouth shut. He had let it been known to the public he was suffering but taking his sorrow like a man. We could watch him being brave on the telly. In the meantime, without much coverage from the media, he confronted the Unions- who were on strike to oppose his plans – with success. A quite extraordinary outcome in modern political history of France.

Well, now Cecilia has gone there is Carla Bruni.

She is tall, elegant, and beautiful. Peculiar how often men, after divorce, end up with younger women that looks very much like the previous one. One might wonder why they went to such extreme measures as separation, only to marry a duplicate of their former wife.

Anyhow, Carla (39) is really stunning. A daring, independent, dangerous personality.. She has been modelling, but now is a performer, a singer songwriter and a notorious starf*cker as well. Among her scalps are those of Mick Jagger, Donald Trump and Kevin Costner. Sarko is her latest catch – and obviously he looks happy. Probably because he is in love with her. Why not.

One could say it is pathetic. Or one can predict the affair will be short lived. Everyone can guess she is in charge. My bet is Carla will have dumped him before Xmas of this year. But who cares? There will be new Cecilia’s and Carla’s if necessary.

But for now this newest affair is all over the telly, the covers of magazines and the pages of the papers. The president started by proudly showing her off in Disneyland, right after his divorce. The photographers did not shoot the pictures accidentally. I suppose they got a hint to be there. But if he did not “invite” them, there was no reason to worry the press would have overlooked the happy couple with the kind of exposure one may expect on that spot.

So, since the beginning of December 07 up to now, this relationship overshadowed all his political machinations. The opposition against his neo liberal agenda didn’t stand a chance in the struggle for publicity. One more welfare state went down the drains.

Although I detest the policies of Sarkozy, I have to admire the man. Partly because, also being an older man of relatively small height myself, I admire peers of a kind who succeed in engaging with these gorgeous women. But even more so because he is a cunning professional politician. Because he is running a show that mesmerizes the public. Because he is throwing dust in their eyes while effectively working on the “change” of the welfare state. He is using his love affairs for these political purposes. Love as an asset for his leadership.

Maybe the Sarko way should be in the leadership textbook of political front men all over the world. Especially for those who are challenged to bring about a serious national make over.

1) The Dutch Crown prince Willem Alexander got a boost by marrying Maxima. His brother, prince Friso, did get extra dimensions by having himself taken as a partner by naughty and fascinating Mabel.

Note:
Yay. This is our first contribution from colson.

Eventhough Journal by The Lightbeamers, MD. rarely elaborates on European political elites and their internal issues (especially compared to what we already have here).. we consider this a splendid read to share. Light and breezy, like something you’d want to read under the trees. Thank you, colson!

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