I was heartened that the French may have turned a corner with the election of Nicholas Sarcozy as President of France.  He talks tough on terrorism.  He says that he will renew the relationship with the United States.  He says how he wants to fight France's tendency towards mendacity and self-deception with their failed socialism and economic decline.  Of course, the proof is in the pudding and we will have to wait and see what kind of "conservative" leader he becomes.  Our faithful readers must recall that George W. Bush ran for President in 2000 as a "Compassionate Conservative".  As his presidency has borne out, he is definitely not a conservative.
    With the apparent loathing of all things American, one would have the impression that it has always been this way.  In fact, the anti-American streak began with the one man that should have loved America as much as France itself: Charles DeGaulle.  DeGaulle ran the Free French during World War II and was a champion for the French to resist the German occupation of France.  After World War II, DeGaulle was elected president of France and started a campaign of Anti-Americanism that has influenced every leader of France since, right up to the most recent president, Jacques Chirac.  DeGaulle was so anti-american that in 1971, when the Bretton Woods system, where the US covered foreign currency exchanges with gold, collapsed and the United States began to "float" the dollar and asked the other nations to accept the dollar as is instead of an equivalent measure of Gold.  Only DeGaulle and France demanded to be paid in gold for what the United States owed them. Remember that it was France that dragged the United States into Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War.  Remember that it was Francois Mitterand that denied our F-101s bound for Libya entrance to French airspace and made them fly around the Iberian peninsula to strike Qaddafi in 1982.  Remember that France was the exile home of the Ayatollah Kohmeni before he returned to Iran after the Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.  Remember that it was a French built nuclear power plant that Israel destroyed in their daring raid at Osirak in 1981.  Remember it was a French Exocet missile, fired by an Iraqi jet, that severely damaged the USS Stark in the  Persian Gulf in 1987.  Since World War II, France has been a constant thorn in the side of United States and it's foreign policy.  But it has not always been so.
    The truth is that France was a role-model for the west and America before there was a west and America.  The War on Terrorism actually began many centuries ago and in France of all places.  The Battle of Tours in 732 was the first time the west and Islam clashed.  The new religion of Mohammed was on a rampage through North Africa and the Middle East.  The Umayyad Muslims of North Africa crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, subjugated the Iberian peninsula and drove north into the Frankish kingdom, what is now France.  The Frankish king, Charles Martel, is seen by historians as the man that led the forces that routed the Umayyads at Tours, also known as Poitiers, and halted the advance of the Muslim armies.  So a Frenchman led the first fight against Jihadists.  The Maquis de Lafayette aided the fledgling nation of America as we battled for our independence.  Lafayette and other Frenchmen were great admirers of our new form of government.  
    With the election of Sarcozy, what can we expect from France as we go forward? Realistically, I would not expect French troops to come to the aid of the US in Iraq; that won't happen.  But maybe, France will stop obstructing the US on the UN Security Council.  Right now, France has blocked our efforts against Iran, North Korea, and in our finding a resolution to the events in Darfur, Sudan.  A pro-US France will give the US another ally, along with Great Britain, as a counterweight to the Russia-China block.  A pro-US France will denude the growing influence of Germany and will do more to keep NATO together, instead of fracturing into a France-Germany alliance that appeared to be brewing.  We might finally get to hear what role Chirac and his government had in the UN Oil-For-Food scandal.   One can only hope we see some of these outcomes. 
    The truth is that a newly Conservative france may be the tipping point to start to rollback the rising tide of Jihadism throughout Europe.  With new policies of assimilation of it's Muslim populace and agreement with some of the US's stands against terrorism.  Sarcozy may be as big an ally on the War on Terrorism as Tony Blair, only the new France will be a key player behind the scenes.  Only time will tell.