THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: French voters are seeing a side to Nicolas Sarkozy that they have never seen before, as he faces up to likely defeat in presidential elections.
They are not qualities normally associated with Nicolas Sarkozy: humility, self-awareness, contrition. Then again, the French leader is less than three months from a presidential election in which he is on track, according to all the opinion polls, to be beaten by his Socialist rival.
The unexpected mea culpa expressed by the normally hyper confident president, in which he admitted personal and political mistakes, and vowed to quit politics altogether if defeated, was as shocking as it appeared stage-managed.
The surprising 'je regrette beaucoup', which focused on the style rather than the substance of his five years in office, came during an official visit last week to the overseas territory of French Guyana to present the traditional new year greetings.
Mr Sarkozy then took the unprecedented step of inviting 20 journalists to an "off the record" briefing.
For the next three hours, during which he repeated several times that his remarks were not for public consumption, he made what may see as a last ditch attempt to transform his image: Super Sarko the Omnipresident had become Nicolas the Penitent. The message from the president of France, said Le Monde newspaper, was "I am not the man you think I am". » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Saturday, January 28, 2012
