The American Spectator

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Two options, as I see it: (1) get a Brit -- or a Dutchman or an Italian or somebody other than one of us -- to tell them the same things; or (2) tell them how their not following our advice works ineluctably to our advantage. While option 1 might work (and if so, probably only incrementally), option 2 could impel them to change overnight: they'll fall all over themselves to "thwart" us.

The French are no more uniformly anti-American than Americans are uniformly behind the Bush administration: the problem is their governing elite, the ÉNArques. Recall that while Chirac got something around 7 out of 8 votes cast in the 2002 run-off, he got only about 2 out of 9 in the first round, barely ahead of the next two candidates, the kook Le Pen and the Socialist Jospin. He is widely reviled in France (7 of 9 wanted someone else), but as is said of the weather, everyone complains, but no one does anything about it. (A joke: "What is the difference between an ÉNArque and the TGV?" "When the TGV derails, it stops.")

As for the Charles de Gaulle: France may not be a world power but often serves as a regional arbitrator, especially in francophone Africa. When we go to a trouble spot, we often do so first with a carrier. The French, called upon less often of course, nonetheless feel that they need at least the one, but corruption and featherbedding have driven up the cost. They could certainly have accomplished the same with smaller and cheaper, but national pride would not permit.

When I attended a family wedding over there in May of last year, the question most frequently asked of me was about the boycott of French companies. Even if not directly affected, they are fearful of it. Those most affected will inevitably whine about it in the same way that American celebrities whine when their expressed opinions provoke a backlash from the great unwashed. (One angry consumer is just that; ten million angry consumers, and you're talking some serious interruption of cash flow: Miss Goldberg, call your agent.) Let's hope and pray that their leaders come to their senses on all of the subjects about which Mr. Babbin wrote or are replaced by those already with their wits about them, before the whole damned thing becomes Europe's first Islamic republic.

p>Sigh. br> -- Stephen Foulard br> Houston, Texas /p> p> Excellent ideas, all, but chances of them following even half of them br> approach zero. /p> p>Thanks for a great article. br> -- Phil Winsor

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