Some Things You'll Never Hear Our President Say

I was looking through Harper's a few days back and I came across this interview between French philosopher Michel Onfray and the newly-elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy. I won't bore you with all of what is actually a fascinating discussion, but consider these quotes and ask yourself if, on his wildest day, George W. Bush could ever utter anything remotely as eloquent?:




SARKOZY: I am not a regular churchgoer. But I believe, I hope, I doubt. Ever since man has had knowledge of his destiny, he has asked himself fundamental questions. Why were we born? Where are we going? Does life open onto nothingness?




SARKOZY: I have often asked myself this question when meeting ill people in hospitals. Suffering is often a letdown compared to what we imagine. Can we say the same thing about happiness? I don't think so. All my life, people have told me to wait, not to be in a hurry. As a child, I had to wait for permission to go; as a teenager, I had to wait to become an adult; the adult had to wait until the previous generations gave up their power. Then, one day, the same ones who told me it's too early told me in the same peremptory tone, "It's too late." I tell my children,"Never wait!"




SARKOZY: I've often felt illegitimate, for reasons I'm not about to explain, and this made me work harder than others. It was a way of legitimizing everything that happened to me: mayor at twenty-eight, minister at thirty-eight. Finally, I understood that all this effort wasn't enough. I discovered a humane part of me that was missing, a hidden force that I did not suspect existed.