WASHINGTON — Readers of this column will remember that when
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France flight in May
just as it was about to vamoose for Paris I was suspicious. The
story and circumstances of his adventure with the chambermaid,
Nafissatou Diallo, in the Sofitel Hotel kept changing. In the
meantime, he was accorded the indignity of the Perp Walk. He was
sent to Rickers Island, a veritable hellhole. He got up on the
morning of May 14 as one of the world’s most distinguished public
servants. He was head of the International Monetary Fund and
apparently about to become the Socialist Party’s frontrunner for
president of France. He retired that evening a convicted felon in
the eyes of almost anyone familiar with his story, and I suspect
slept badly.
Yet there was a handful of us who were holdouts. We said
he was, according to American legal standards, innocent until
proven guilty. Well, now charges against him have been dropped. He
is a free man, and he and his wife flew back to Paris on Air France
flight 007. There was a smile on his face, but I wonder what was
going on behind that smile. The devil take the hindmost Frenchman
was still facing civil charges here and possible rape charges in
France. Moreover he was unemployed, out on his ear at the IMF and
an unlikely Socialist candidate for anything at home. As Chantal
Brunel of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party told Agence
France-Presse, Strauss-Kahn “is going to be an indelible stain on
the Socialist Party.” She speculated that he “will harm the
chances” of his party’s presidential candidate.
Actually, at France’s Charles de Gaulle airport there was
a mad crush. His fans were there with his enemies and the press and
the police and a singer. Yes, one fellow made a scene by singing
Verdi. I wondered about him. What aria did he sing? Is there one
about a rake accosting a chambermaid, or even better a chambermaid
deflowering a statesman. That would make a great modern variation
for Verdi. And how good a voice did the romantic fellow actually
have?
There were many idiotic assessments of DSK, as he is
called in France in a sobriquet that summons up the initials JFK to
Americans. Is he that charming? He looks a little dumpy.
François Pupponi, a friend and ally and the mayor of the Paris
suburb of Sarcelles where Strauss-Kahn too served as mayor, spoke
personally and with the wide world in mind. He told LCI television,
“Let’s not put pressure on him. He needs to rebuild himself. What’s
important is that he is back in France. He’s going to be able to
think about the future with clarity.” And Pupponi added some
claptrap about Strauss-Kahn’s value to France, to Europe, and to
the world.
Pierre Muscovici, another friend, added, Strauss-Kahn
“will be useful to his country, useful to the left, and his
recognized skills, will find a new use.” Which skills Muscovici was
referring to is unclear. But perhaps not to former Socialist prime
minister Michel Rocard, who noted that Strauss-Kahn “obviously has
a mental illness, trouble controlling is impulses.” Rocard was
talking about women.
What are French women going to say about Strauss-Kahn’s
liberation? Anne Mansouret, the mother of the woman who has charged
him with rape, says the media hubbub surrounding his homecoming was
“indecent.” Socialist leader Martine Aubry said Tuesday, “I think
the same as many women about the attitude of Dominique Strauss-Kahn
to women.” She is hostile, though she is not barring him from a
future post in government.
Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, an independent French journalist
who has been covering the Strauss-Kahn adventure, has said it
represents a huge turning point in French society and in French
politics. Up until now his behavior was accepted. From now on,
non plus. Having a reputation like Strauss-Kahn will cook
a politician’s goose… perhaps in a nice orange sauce. I am not so
sure.
