French President Nicolas Sarkozy: Obama’s Foreign Policy Is “Immature”
Ouch:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama’s positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel’s government.
Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate’s stance on Iran as “utterly immature” and comprised of “formulations empty of all content.”
Of course, the French government is denying that President Sarkozy said any such thing…
The French Embassy puts out a statement denying the Haaretz report that an Israeli official said President Sarkozy was troubled by his Iran policy:
The remarks attributed by the newspaper Haaretz to the president of the French Republic concerning Sen. Obama’s positions on Iran are groundless. To the contrary, the in-depth discussions between the president of the Republic and Sen. Obama on Iran during their meeting in Paris in July demonstrated a broad convergence of views on this issue. President Sarkozy and Sen. Obama agree to oppose Iran’s development of a military nuclear capability.
…but then, that’s exactly the sort of response you’d expect from a national government over these type of leaked comments. That doesn’t mean Sarkozy didn’t say them.
Remember, if Obama wins, Sarkozy has to work with the guy.
But even so, “immature” and “formulations empty of all content” sound like a pretty apt characterization of Obama’s policies in general.
By the way, remember when the media would hype any negative comments about President Bush from foreign leaders like Sarkozy? Remember when they’d use quotes like this and claim that Bush has made America “less popular” in the world?
Don’t expect the same treatment of Obama.
