The Obamas in France

It is amazing how the same news can be reported in such a totally different way in the United States and Europe. The gist of the story reported being the same generally but the interpretation of the story being so opposite that it is a wonder how it got so. And from that arise the misinterpretations, dislikes and falsities. Let us take the US and France, mostly because this past week with the 65th anniversary of D-day and the visit of Obama in Paris and Normandy both countries were in the news. According to the American media -I am talking mostly about the printed media as living in Europe I don’t have a chance to see US television except CNN International- Obama’s visit was a success in France, the French love him and his wife and she was definitely as well if not better dressed as the First French Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and so on.
Sure there is curiosity about the Obamas and after the eight years of the Bush presidency and while he is still in probation for many Europeans, there is a certain amount of relief about this young new president. But he is not as revered as we are told. In fact even though I read in an American article “US President Barack Obama and his family received a hero’s welcome in Paris on Saturday as they were given a private tour of the famed Notre Dame cathedral.,” his visit to Paris with that incredible entourage, was not always viewed in a positive way. That the main highway around Paris was closed to the public for a while, just when the French was returning home from work, or that for one hour in the evening Notre Dame was open only for the Obamas, was not taken well. Some French blogs -and I know sometimes one cannot believe what one reads one them as being true representative of the feelings of the majority- were rather disrespectful, some were funny: here are parts of a couple of them:
Commenting in the food taster he had in the French restaurant (I imagine against being poisoned):
“But I am dreaming! A taster to taste what he eats and drinks in France …”
And wondering in a negative way about the ecological impact of his retinue:
“I was by pure chance on the road the Obama took for their stroll in Paris. In 1 minute no more traffic, what a calm and silence. If that could always be like that. On the other hand hello to the expense for the thousands of police. And on the ecological side, the retinue had at least 80 cars + 50 motorcycles…”
And commenting the bill Obama paid in the Parisian restaurant they went:
“5 people to dinner who go directly from the main dish to the dessert and don’t even drink wine and that for 300 Euros …What do you think? They took them for “Americans”…???!!!”
So let us all realize he is just a politician who happens to be the President of the US and not a hero or a God.