Rachida Dati And What, If Anything, Her Example Means

Philippe de Villiers was always the hope, and he didn't have a chance. Sarkozy is an intelligent man but also, alas, at times too excitable a sentimentalist. It is not his vie sentimentale, however, that matters -- though the Head of State has a responsiblity to see that his own privacy is protected, as an example to the rest of the country. He should not fling open the doors of his private life in some adolescent assault on "hypocrisy."

No, the sentimentalism here is that of confusing the individual with the collective, and in politics, and especially in a war (and a war is on, even if the instruments of that war are not recognized), the collective matters. He is sentimental about  individual success stories of Muslims, specifically Muslim women or women who were born into Islam, such as the thoroughly charming Rachida Dati, who has been promoted beyond what she merited (and in her Ministry, many as a result felt slighted, and departed, because of Sarkozy's need for a visible Muslim success story. But is Rachida Dati the most relevant Dati datum, or is the data based on the other ten Dati more significant in making sense of the Muslim menace in France today? What about those other ten siblings of Rachida Dati? Are we to pay attention to her alone, and ignore them, and their effect on the French state, French non-Muslims? At least two of them have been in prison. Several more appear to have been permanently on the French dole. Which is more important -- Rachida Dati, or the ten other Datis?

I suggest it is the Dati data, not the Dati datum, that matters most.

As for Carla Bruni, nothing more need be said of her, except to alert the public that the talented Italian comic Fiorello -- Rosario Fiorello -- does a very good parody of her on the RAI (with special attention to mocking her snobbishness about Italy and Italians), and  some of those imitations may be found here on YouTube.

 And the charm of Rachida Dati, with that dazzling ready smile,  can be seen here, and so can the imitative abilities of the French comic Canteloup as he does the politicians in different voices -- Sarkozy, Dominique de Villepin, many others.