Nicolas Sarkozy has Bush-level approval ratings

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

High-20s to low-30s.

According to the TV machine.

I thought it was interesting to know.

:hi:

[joeybee12]

1. GOOD!

Racist asshole.

[KeepItReal]

2. "Sarkozy has recently abandoned one of his most politically unpopular tax cuts for the rich"

From the editorial "Sarkozy should retire, says France":

I have to admit, though, that it was perplexing to watch the French elect Nicolas Sarkozy president in 2007, a man who campaigned on the idea that France had to make its economy more "efficient", like America's. In reality, he couldn't have picked a worse time to peddle this mumbo-jumbo. The housing bubble was already bursting in the United States and would soon cause not only our own Great Recession, but also drag most of the world economy into the swamp with it. So much for that particular model of economic dynamism.

But Sarkozy had a lot of help from the major media, which was quite enchanted with the American model at the time and helped promote a number of myths that formed part of his campaign. Among these were the idea that French social protections and employment benefits were "unaffordable in a global economy", and that employers would hire more people if it were easier to fire them, and if taxes were cut for the rich.

Sarkozy has recently abandoned one of his most politically unpopular tax cuts for the rich, but there may be others. But he had also promised not to raise the retirement age for the public pension system. This has contributed to the mass outrage at his current proposal to raise it from 60 to 62, for those taking the reduced benefits, and from 65 to 67, for full benefits. (Under the US social security system, most people opt for the reduced benefit that is available beginning at age 62; full benefits are available, for those born after 1959, at 67.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/20/france-protest

[Turbineguy]

3. That almost makes be feel sorry for him.

Almost. Very few indeed are deserving of Bush-level approval ratings.

[drmeow]

4. A year ago

I was in Paris at a business meeting and one of our French colleagues said that Sarkozy is "our Bush"