Sarkozy Slams Obama: "I'm Going to Ask Him to Walk on the Channel...And He'll Do It"

Some of you may have missed this during all the tea party festivities. French President Nicolas Sarkozy told the press what he really thinks about Barack Obama. This happened yesterday:

Over three courses at the lunch, Mr. Sarkozy held forth on the shortcomings of others, according to the newspaper Libération and other French news outlets, based on the accounts of opposition legislators who attended.

In the world according to Sarko, President Obama is weak, inexperienced and badly briefed on climate change...

Mr. Obama, according to Mr. Sarkozy, “has a subtle mind, very intelligent and very charismatic. But he was elected two months ago and never ran a ministry in his life. He doesn’t have a position on a number of things.” Mr. Obama “is not always operating at a level of decision-making and efficiency,” according to the voluble Mr. Sarkozy, who has previously been quoted as insulting many other leaders.

Mr. Obama appeared unprepared on climate change when they met, according to Mr. Sarkozy, who told the legislators: “I told him, ‘I don’t think that you have quite understood what we are doing on carbon dioxide.’ ”

In the magazine L’Express, Mr. Sarkozy was quoted as joking about Mr. Obama’s sanctified image, and appeared to resent the uncritical welcome that the Obamas received in the European news media. Mr. Obama, pressured by Mr. Sarkozy, agreed to visit France again in June for the anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

“I am going to ask him to walk on the Channel, and he’ll do it,” Mr. Sarkozy reportedly said.

He gets it. He really gets it.

SARKOZY SAYS OBAMA'S IRAN POSITION "UTTERLY IMMATURE"

Here is at least one man who did not get the Messiah memo:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel's government.

Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on Iran as "utterly immature" and comprised of "formulations empty of all content."

Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy. At a joint press conference afterward, Obama urged Iran to accept the West's proposal on its nuclear program, saying that Iran was creating a serious situation that endangered both Israel and the West.

According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country's policy toward Iran, that would be "very problematic."

Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might "arrogantly" ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

Following their July meeting, Sarkozy repeatedly expressed disappointment with Obama's positions on Iran, concluding that they were "not crystallized, and therefore many issues remain open," the Israeli source said. Advisors to the French president who held separate meetings with Obama's advisors came away with similar impressions and expressed similar disappointment.