A quote from Marc Perelman in Foreign Policy, July 2005

Nicolas Sarkozy has become the most popular French politician by diving headfirst into the country’s most explosive political issues. [He] has challenged his fellow citizens’ views on immigration, social welfare, and tax relief, and told them that, in some cases, France should look abroad for its inspiration to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Britain and, yes, even President George W. Bush’s America. […] “I don’t have a reference book in which I will find the solution to all problems,” Sarkozy says. “I try to be pragmatic and efficient. Maybe in that sense I am Anglo-Saxon.” Although he is careful to stress that he does not see eye-to-eye with President Bush on many issues, he is unabashedly pro-American. “I like America and the Americans a lot and I say it. Do I need help, doctor?” he quips, raising his eyebrows. “Some of my friends tell me not to talk about it so [loudly]. Why? I don’t get it.”