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October 18, 2007

Countermoonbattery from France and Even the New York Times

Given the steady flow of anti-American moonbattery gushing out of France since WWII, the election of pro-American Nicolas Sarkozy was a wonderful surprise. Still more amazing is the piece on his finance minister Christine Lagarde in today's New York Times:

Not only is Christine Lagarde France's finance minister, ready to forsake her native tongue, she is, she says, "happier doing this in English." With that, right off the bat, she declares in ringing Anglo-Saxon: "We are trying to change the psyche of the French people in relation to work."

A hopeless task, some might say. Deep in the Gallic soul resides the notion that work is exploitation, a ruse concocted by American robber barons, best regulated and minimized and offset by hours of idleness. The demise of the Soviet Union left France leading the counter-capitalist school.

But Lagarde, 51, tall and striking, is not known as "the American" for nothing. Think of her as the face of a new France ditching its cold-war hangover. The sobriquet reflects her linguistic skills, her background as a highflying executive for the Baker & McKenzie law firm and her Chicago-cultivated candor.

In an interview, Lagarde says that more than two decades at a U.S. corporation taught her: "The more hours you worked, the more hours you billed, the more profit you could generate for yourself and your firm. That was the mantra."

The equivalent mantra in the French bureaucracy might be: the fewer hours you work, the more vacation you take, the more time you have to grumble about the state of the universe and the smarter you feel, especially compared to workaholic dingbats across the Atlantic with no time for boules.

So Lagarde, appointed four months ago by President Nicolas Sarkozy, is aware that she faces a big challenge: "What was really striking to me when I came back from Chicago in 2005 was that the law on the 35-hour week had passed and been internalized by individuals and, I think, had produced disastrous effects."

Moonbattery certainly does produce disastrous effects, leading those deranged by it straight toward the Abyss. By electing Sarko, France indicated that it has reached the edge, peered into the depths, and wants to mend its ways. Is it too late for the Gray Lady to follow suit?

Lagarde motions for lazy moonbats to get out of the way.

On a tip from Harry.

Posted by Van Helsing at October 18, 2007 10:55 AM

Comments

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