Sarkozy Calls Obama Soft on Iran

Ha'aretz, an Israeli newspaper, has a piece on Obama's "immature" take on Iran. Steve Taranto in the WSJ riffs on the Realpolitik Sarkozy expresses thusly:

One of the things that cost John Kerry the White House in 2004 was the revelation that he looked French. Paris's perfidy over the Iraq war had left America with a suspicion of all things Gallic, and the Democrats, as the "Frenchier" party, suffered for it.

Now France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is criticizing one of our presidential candidates for his attitude toward Iran, which Sarkozy calls "utterly immature," according to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. And we have to admit, John McCain's Beach Boys parody ("bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran") was rather adolescent. But c'mon, Nick, lighten up. Haven't the French ever heard of gallows humor?

Hold on a second. It turns out Sarkozy isn't referring to McCain at all:

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." . . .
Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might "arrogantly" ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

So the president of France is criticizing an American politician for not being tough enough on a despotic Middle Eastern regime? Is this Erret (le bizarro monde), or are we going to have to reconsider our stereotypes of the French?

I agree with Steve that the French Prez's take on haute politique is far more perceptive than the beerhall musings of Die Spiegel in its hallucinations of The Golden Fart Blossom as a nicer, kinder version of their own playground bully Adolf of a few generations back. As the late John Lennon sang in "Revolution," we'd all like to change the world. The Germans normally attempt their corrective movements on world politics with an excessive amount of Sturm und Drang.

Maybe the French method is better in this case, at least for the Middle East, where the Germans tipped their hand a few generations back on demonstrating their "extreme prejudice" toward one of the antagonists in the Arab/Israeli Conflict. Unless, of course, Obama is nurturing an intense dislike of them pesky Joooos.... Who wouldda thunkit?