THE SUNDAY TIMES: AFTER months of being cruelly snubbed, Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambitious dream of supplanting Britain as America’s best friend in Europe has come a step closer to reality with an invitation to a private dinner in the White House at the end of this month.
He and his wife Carla will have dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama in their private White House apartment. It is a rare honour for a visiting leader: Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, had to make do with chats in the Oval Office.
The hyperactive Sarkozy, whose enthusiasm for the glitzy side of politics has led to his being nicknamed “Sarko l’Américain”, is thrilled to be rubbing shoulders with the world’s most famous couple. Even before Obama was elected, the French leader had put his diplomatic service into overdrive to try to win favour with the new White House. >>> Matthew Campell in Paris | Sunday, March 07, 2010
