WASHINGTON — After years of bashing the French for refusing to help fight the war in Iraq, Republicans are suddenly embracing Paris like Cyd Charisse in "Silk Stockings."
"France is one of my favorite countries now. I can't say it was before. But it's become one of my favorite countries," Rudolph W. Giuliani recently gushed to PBS interviewer Charlie Rose.
And former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee has similarly suggested the U.S. not only stop pooh-poohing all things French, but toast the end of the long estrangement with French wine.
La raison appears to be Nicolas Sarkozy, the new, American-loving French president who dined at the White House on Tuesday night, entertained by actors dressed as George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who helped Washington win the Revolutionary War. Sort of a theatrical reminiscence of a happy first date.
GOP standard-bearers are holding up Sarkozy as a model for reinventing their own beleaguered party. Proud to have been dubbed by his critics Sarko l'Americain, the new president has been likened to John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan for his youthful verve and willingness to take on sacred cows to pull France from the economic doldrums -- powerful labor unions, big government, 35-hour workweeks, six-week vacations and cushy pension plans. He tells his people they must work harder, cut taxes and take risks.
"Imagine trying to get that past an American campaign consultant," Newt Gingrich wrote in the Washington Post last summer, one of the first to make Sarkozy an example of how to seek reelection while in the shadow of an unpopular president. He cited Sarkozy's ability to serve in the cabinet of a disliked Jacques Chirac, then define himself as an agent for change without scorning his old boss.
At the White House black-tie dinner, President Bush welcomed Sarkozy in French, saying, "Bienvenue a la Maison Blanche." Sarkozy, noting the pomp and warmth of his welcome, said one can "be a friend of America and win election in France!"
All of this friendship comes a mere four years after the cafeteria menus at three House office buildings renamed French fries "Freedom fries" (the breakfast crowd got "Freedom toast") at the behest of GOP lawmakers.
The menus were quietly changed back about a year ago; by then one of the original advocates, Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), had decided the war was a mistake after all. Ever since, GOP notables have been warming up to France in the latest chapter of a rocky 230-year romance.
