Link: Sarkozy Set to Wed as Approval Falls - TIME.
Sarkozy Set to Wed as Approval Falls
Monday, Jan. 07, 2008 By BRUCE CRUMLEY/PARIS
Operation "Lookit Me!" (((hey, nice tag, TIME))) may have just hit a wall.
"Ever since French President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in May, leaked media reports on his private life have increasingly overshadowed political news that was often less uplifting. But French pundits and pollsters are now saying that if that preference for soft news over hard has been orchestrated by the Elysée, it is beginning to backfire. New opinion polls are showing serious erosion in Sarkozy's support — and displeasure with the over-exposure of his private life — just when the news splashes that he plans to wed former super-model Carla Bruni.
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"The Sunday paper Journal du Dimanche ran a front-page photo of Sarkozy and Bruni together under the headline "They're Getting Married! The 9th of February?" The accompanying story offered details of the diamond-studded ring Sarkozy slipped on Bruni's finger as he proposed to her, along with an eye-batting a reply that would have given even Barbara Cartland the vapors ("Monsieur le President, I have no reason to refuse you"). (((Oh come on, humorless TIME reporter, let the French and Italians be romantic)))
The story ends on a similarly schmaltzy note, promising readers, "If you loved Grace Kelly in Monaco, you'll adore Carla Bruni in the Elysée." (((I'd adore her there too, but if Sarko thinks that marriage to Carla is gonna smooth out the publicity roller-coaster, he must be out of his mind.)))
Or not, as it turns out. Sunday's daily Le Parisien published a new opinion poll showing Sarkozy's public approval rating had dropped seven points since December to 48%. Perhaps just as bad for the reportedly altar-bound Sarkozy, however, was that poll's finding that 48% of respondents said he over-exposes his private life.
(((I frankly don't see how he gets a choice. He's rather brilliantly made lemonade from his lemons here. I can see how it would get a little tiring, though, especially if a tabloid-blasting third divorce follows on the heels of the second.)))
"The biggest loss of support comes among more traditional sections of society that feel the publicity surrounding the president's private affairs is undermining a presidential office designed to remain stately, dignified, and above the fray," says Stéphane Rozès, deputy director general of the CSA polling agency, which conducted the survey.... (((Especially *old French people*. He's offended Moslems, Hindus, the Pope and elderly social conservatives. He must be doing SOMETHING right.)))
(((BEYOND THE BEYOND 2008 – "All Carla, All the Time")))
