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US happy about right wing french victory { April 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-07-bush-france_N.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-05-07-bush-france_N.htm
Amis again? U.S. hails Sarkozy's election
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is practically jumping for joie.
With the election of a U.S.-friendly conservative to be France's next president, it's au revoir freedom fries and bonjour rapprochement.
Four years after often tense relations with France plummeted to new lows over the war in Iraq, Nicolas Sarkozy's weekend victory at the polls to succeed Jacques Chirac led to much talk on Monday in Washington of a new closeness with Paris.
On a day that President Bush welcomed Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to the White House for a state visit, U.S. officials appeared almost giddy at the prospect of improved ties with France, which sided with American colonists against the British more than 200 years ago.
"We certainly look forward to cooperation with the French," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "We know that there are going to be areas of disagreement. But on the other hand, there are certainly real opportunities to work together on a broad range of issues."
Bush, he said, congratulated Sarkozy in a phone call Sunday after the French president-elect declared in a victory speech that the United States can "count on our friendship," while adding that "friendship means accepting that friends can have different opinions."
Sarkozy challenged the administration to take the lead on climate change and said the issue would be a priority for France.
At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack was upbeat about the prospects.
"We'll see in what ways his foreign policy will differ from President Chirac's but I'm confident that we will find many areas in which we can work very closely together," he told reporters.
Chirac and Bush butted heads numerous times, notably over Iraq, global warming and what many French regard as American cultural imperialism, culminating in a battle royale in 2003 in which U.S. officials said they were looking for ways to punish France.
At its height, anti-French sentiment ran so virulent that french fries in Congress were renamed "freedom fries" and pundits attacked the people who gave the United States the Statue of Liberty with the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" from "The Simpsons."
"Those days, I would argue, are already well behind us," McCormack said Monday, noting a positive shift beginning with Bush's second term that has included cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, the Middle East and in Africa.
Sarkozy is no less critical of Iran's nuclear program than is the United States. He also has chided the French press for its anti-American tone, saying that it is not accord with the sympathies of the French people.
McCormack declined to offer any official analysis on Sarkozy's win or comment on whether the administration was pleased he had beaten Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, about whom Washington had serious reservations.
But some U.S. diplomats said privately the result would be a shot in the arm for U.S.-French relations.
Others said they hoped economic and immigration reforms championed by Sarkozy would make France a stronger partner for the United States and its closest European ally, Britain.
Analysts said the election would herald improved ties, but warned against unbridled enthusiasm, noting that the new French president who takes office on May 16 would be leading a people deeply skeptical about U.S. intentions in Iran and the broader war on terrorism.
"There was a general malaise and dark shadow hanging over the French-U.S. relationship and this is just like a breath of fresh air," said Julianne Smith, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"I'm excited because it will bring new opportunities, but we have to be cautious about putting too much hope into an individual," she said. "America is kind of reaching out and hopeful but again let's keep the expectations in check."
Karen Donfried, a former State Department official and expert on trans-Atlantic relations at the German Marshall Fund, agreed.
"For the White House, it's very encouraging to have a new French president who is openly talking about better relations," she said. "For the Bush administration, it is good news that the days of Jacques Chirac are over.
"But we should not set the expectation bar too high for Sarkozy because he will face domestic constraints in terms of his ability to move to a deeper rapprochement with us."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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