London: From his platform heels and
boastful streak to his recent claims of having helped knock
down the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, President Nicolas Sarkozy
is now "a figure of fun" in France.
In fact, the French are enjoying a good laugh at the
expense of Sarkozy, particularly after it emerged that a photo
of him chipping at the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which
the President posted on his Facebook site last week, was taken
at least one day later, 'The Sunday Times' reported.
Sarkozy's desire to be at the centre of events has
now been parodied in a series of spoof photographs, showing
him leading the French to victory in the 1998 Football World
Cup and storming the Bastille in 1789.
He has been shown seated next to Winston Churchill
at the Yalta summit in 1945 and walking on the moon. In one of
the snaps, he is recast as a member of Beatles. He "discovers"
America, invents penicillin and wins an Olympic medal as well.
But, not all of the reaction to the Berlin Wall
photograph was quite so good-humoured. Visitors to Sarkozy's
Facebook site accused Elysée Palace of censorship, complaining
that negative comments about the President's behaviour had
been erased from the Internet.
A presidential spokesman, however, said only "hateful
and vulgar" messages had been removed.
A taste for luxury watches, designer sunglasses and
jewellery led to caricatures of him in the early days of his
rule as "le président bling-bling", but more recently comics
have focused on his allegedly dictatorial bent: he is often
parodied as Napoleon or Louis XIV.
The cartoonists had a field day with his marriage to
Carla Bruni last year and much of the fun has revolved around
the difference in height between the statuesque former model
and the pint-sized President.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 15:10