J'adore la France!

I think we owe a big merci to France, the enchanting country that has shared with the world its brie, baguettes, and the sultry chansons of Jacques Brel, for bringing us the single most interesting story in the news this month: the whirlwind love affair of Nicholas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.

Sure, he's président of La République, and she's an Italian supermodel-heiress four inches taller than he, but c'est l'amour!

This is a story just too incredible to my American-style prudish political sensibilities. Not only is a sitting head of state DATING, but he's doing so only four wee months after divorcing his second wife (who, incidentally has quite a bit of remaining baggage, and is publishing a book in which she calls him a "stingy philanderer" with a "behavioural problem" who is an "unworthy president" of France, not to mention "a man who likes no one, not even his children." Um, ouch).

And on all accounts, Sarkozy is smitten. The couple, together a mere three months, have gone for romantic dates in Egypt, Jordan, and EuroDisney (the latter with her son and mother... bizarre), and now are apparently (secretly) MARRIED!!

But Carla "Man Eater" Bruni's relationship with the president is turning heads even in France, where the private lives of politicians are sacrosanct, and secret mistresses and love-children draw no attention from the media. Bruni's roster of past lovers reads like a Who's Who list: Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Donald Trump [ed. - The Donald?? Ew.]. She once shacked up with a French publishing magnate, but one thing led to another and she instead fell for his son, who fathered her only child. In a recent interview, she stated: "I am a tamer [of men], a cat, an Italian - monogamy bores me terribly. I am faithful... to myself!! I am monogamous from time to time but I prefer polygamy and polyandry."

I'll readily admit, I love this story and all its trashiness. I love that this goes down in France. I love that this woman will likely become France's First Lady. I - incidentally - love her music. And most of all, I love trying to imagine the same thing happening in the United States. I honestly cannot for the life of me fathom a similar figure gaining such a prominent role in American politics -- we relegate people like her to the tabloids, not the political pages. Obama's flirtation with drugs years ago is enough to draw our media's focus; it's simply impossible to imagine the electability of someone twice-divorced and in love with a foreign-born supermodel.

This fascination with Sarkozy/Bruni not only says a lot about the prying eyes of moralistic, scandal-loving Americans, but perhaps also quite a bit about just how much the French will permit in their politicians' personal lives. After all, a leftist First Lady who disagrees with her husband's policy choices, denounces monogamy, and has never taken an active interest in politics is an interesting match for her rightist husband. We Americans tend to see First Ladies (First Spouses?) as extensions of the presidents to whom they are married, and envision their actions in the White House as complementary to policy agendas. Through their behavior and example, we expect them to demonstrate certain public values. Disagreement with the president, even over strict policy questions, would be a PR disaster for the White House, and any marital discord presumably seen as emasculating for the Commander in Chief.

Now while I think Sarkozy might be asking a lot from the people of France to accept his spending valuable governing time to woo an Italian beauty, part of me admires the French for accepting the *ahem* unconventional pairing. It wouldn't happen in American politics, and maybe both America and France are better off for that.