An American in Paris

France | French president Nicolas Sarkozy is changing the image of his homeland and of transatlantic relations | Robert Carle

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In his withdrawal speech earlier this month, Gov. Mitt Romney worried that "unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century—still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no longer the superpower." Meanwhile in a remarkable turnabout, French president Nicolas Sarkozy seems bent on remaking France in the image of America.

Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian immigrant father and a Greek Jewish mother, calls himself "proud" to wear the label "Sarko the American." He speaks of his love of the American dream and of the cultural icons of the 20th century, from Elvis Presley to Ernest Hemingway to Martin Luther King Jr. He thanks the United States for saving France in two world wars, for rebuilding Europe with the Marshall Plan, and for fighting communism during the cold war. And since his election as president last May, Sarkozy has redefined France's troubled relationship with the United States.