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The Carla Effect
Goodness, she's a quick one. Six months after EURSOC predicted that Carla Bruni would make a great first lady, Maureen Dowd publishes a column on the positive effect Carla is having on both France and its President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Dowd rates the Carla Effect as the cause of Sarkozy's recent mini-revival in the opinion polls; she reports that Elysée insiders are claiming that the President is in better humour these days, emotionally and intellectually, since his messy split from his second wife Cécilia.
Just imagine if Barack Obama's missus Michelle had anything like Carla's background, she ponders... doesn't bear thinking about!
Also in Carla news, it's been reported that a recent interview with Mme Bruni-Sarkozy crashed the servers of French newspaper Libération. Irate Libé readers bombarded the newspaper with emails and letters voicing their horror that the President's wife was afforded such a prominent role in the left-wing paper.
She has also been credoted with reuniting the estranged Sarkozy family, with the President's father praising her for mending fences between him and her son.
The Sarkozys are currently in the Middle East, where the President has been holding talks with Israeli politicians. He has stressed the need to end the building of settlements, called for a Palestinian state and the sharing of Jerusalem; he also said that Iran should never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons and warned Tehran that France would come to Israel's aid if attacked by Iran.
However, as the Times reports, Sarkozy's hard-talking diplomacy has played second fiddle to the presence of who Israel's biggest-selling newspaper is calling "Queen Carla."
"Even the local Arab press, which has largely ignored Mr Sarkozy’s visit, could not resist the images of the French first lady. The Al-Quds newspaper showed images of her wardrobe on their news pages, and Israel Radio's Arabic channel invited in a local fashion designer to discuss her choice of clothes."
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