Sarko and Carla vs Barack and Michelle

Art Goldhammer looks at the Democratic convention in Denver and lets loose his imagination...

I got to thinking about what would have happened had a comparable scene been staged in France. Just try to imagine Carla Bruni rattling on about her first meeting with Sarkozy at a posh Parisian dinner party. And the family vetting? Would she have brought "Nick" home to meet her sister Valeria, an actress rather than a basketball coach like Michelle's brother, and would Valeria have offered an opinion on Nick's prowess as a persuasive public speaker? And how about the kids? Might Jean Sarkozy have motored on stage aboard his scooter, patted Carla on the rump, and asked an image of "daddy" on the television screen what city he was in? "Pontivy, fiston, Pontivy, et qu'est-ce que tu penses de belle-maman? Canon, hein?"

As he says, thank heavens America and France, being so similar, remain so different. Then again, perhaps this talk of how Michelle Obama "affirmed" her husband's promise while "humanising" him is sufficiently pretentious for any cliched left-bank coversation...