After a three-day U.S. visit that brought him to Washington, Monticello, Va., and Northern California, Francois Hollande has returned to Paris, presumably to address his connubial issues, along with pressing matters of state.
He seems a decent fellow, so I wish him well. But it’s a shame that during his American sojourn, the French president succumbed to his host’s habit of gratuitously patting oneself on the back. A propensity for self-congratulation is perhaps Barack Obama’s least appealing trait, especially when it is undeserved, and at others’ expense.
In this case, Obama roped his guest into the exercise, too, with the designated foils being Hollande’s predecessors in office—and Obama’s. And so, before the French leader had even alighted at Joint Base Andrews on Monday, there was an op-ed in The Washington Post under both leaders’ bylines crowing about their mutual cooperation on a variety of global issues, prefaced with a self-serving caveat.
“A decade ago, few would have imagined our two countries working so closely together in so many ways,” they asserted. “Now we are meeting our responsibilities not just to each other — but to a world that is more secure because our enduring alliance is being made new again.”
At a press conference the following day, there was more of this kind of thing from Obama. “The U.S.-French alliance has never been stronger,” he said. “And the levels of cooperation that we’re seeing across a whole range of issues is much deeper than it was … five years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.”
It is true that 2003 and 2004 were trying years in the relationship between France and the U.S., and the reason is no secret: After initially supporting George W. Bush’s push toward war in Iraq, the government headed by President Jacques Chirac had a change of heart. In November 2002, France had joined the rest of the United Nations Security Council in approving U.N. Resolution 1441, giving Iraq “a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations.”
This launched another round of cat-and-mouse games with arms inspectors over the next few months, but by early March 2003, Chirac had decided he wanted no part of the impending U.S. invasion, which he considered a terrible idea.
Bush ignored these misgivings, leading to an undeniable chill in the relationship. But amid the witless gibberish in America about renaming French fries “freedom fries” or boycotting French wine or slurring the French as “cheese-eating surrender monkeys,” the two nations worked closely together on counterterrorism, Mideast peace, the Balkans, and other hot spots.
No matter what Obama says now, 2004 was a watershed year for French-American cooperation in every area of mutual interest other than Iraq. Acting bilaterally, the two governments worked together to liberate Lebanon from the yoke of Syrian occupation. Moreover, as Bush would remind his aides, there was Afghanistan, where the French did indeed send troops. Try telling the families of the 86 French soldiers who lost their lives alongside American fighting men and women there that the two countries weren’t cooperating.
Ten years ago, both Chirac and Bush would employ the same word, “excellent,” when asked to describe the level of cooperation between the two governments. You couldn’t always say the same thing about the personal chemistry between the two leaders, but they tried.
In June 2004, at the end of 30th G-8 summit on Sea Island, Ga., Chirac went the extra mile, complimenting the local food, which he termed “on a par with French cuisine,” adding, “and I ask the president to convey my thanks to the chef.” Bush noted that for a Frenchman to compliment another country’s cooking is high praise indeed, adding that Chirac particularly enjoyed his cheeseburger. No mention of “freedom fries” was made.
In 2007, another time when Obama suggested things weren’t great between Americans and the French, Bush invited Chirac’s successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, to Washington. Sarkozy, too, was given a state dinner; and just as Obama praised Lafayette and took Hollande to Monticello, Bush praised Lafayette and took Sarkozy to Mount Vernon. Obama said “Bonjour” to Hollande, laughingly adding that this was the extent of his French. In 2007, Bush had told Sarkozy, “Bienvenue a la Maison Blanche.”
“Our peoples resemble one another, and they admire each other,” Sarkozy responded in French. “And that is precisely why they have this strong bond, an impassioned relation which is not simple, but it is always beautiful. And I also came to say that one can be a friend of America, and yet win elections in France.”
Although Sarkozy didn’t win re-election when he ran against Hollande in 2012, that result seems an odd reason to airbrush history. Certainly, Chirac didn’t attempt that when it came to remembering American sacrifices in World War II. For many years, in a tradition continued by Sarkozy and Hollande, Chirac would award the French Legion of Honor to Americans who fought at Normandy or in the ensuing liberation of France.
In June 2004, at the 60th anniversary of D-Day, he presented 99 such medals to Americans and three Australians at a ceremony in Paris. The next day, on a sun-kissed afternoon on the bluffs above the beach, Bush gave one of the more eloquent speeches of his presidency.
It ended with this passage:
“When the invasion was finally over and the guns were silent, this coast, we are told, was lined for miles with the belongings of the thousands who fell. There were lifebelts and canteens and socks and K-rations and helmets and diaries and snapshots. And there were Bibles, many Bibles, mixed with the wreckage of war. Our boys had carried in their pockets the book that brought into the world this message: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’
“America honors all the liberators who fought here in the noblest of causes,” he added, “and America would do it again for our friends. May God bless you.”
At the words “America would do it again for our friends,” Bush looked at Chirac. The day before, the tension between them at a joint press conference was palpable. Now it was gone. Chirac approach Bush and took both of Bush’s hands in his own and held them tightly.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington Bureau Chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.
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