Seriously, either everyone needs to read the article linked or Jez needs to make the story a little more clear. This has nothing to do with elitism and everything to do with the fact that stores in France are closed by law on Sunday. Sarkozy had to call a few stores and ask them to open for the Obama's in VIOLATION of French law.
I love Michell and I have a feeling she (and the Obama's) are being used as a scapegoat for Sarkozy to introduce a new law.
I would like to think that the Obama's would have found something else to do on a Sunday if they knew all the stores were closed.
The Obamas were well to-do before he became President? I mean they wouldn't have opened the store for them, but I'm sure if they were in Paris on a visit, she would have gone to Hermes.
Sidenote: Ahhh that was my biggest culture shock when I was in Paris. NOTHING IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS, and some people (and grocery stores) enjoy extending that to Mondays. Oh and when there's a greve, everything is closed in solidarity. Including TV.
@thatonegirlsays: And I complain about grocery stores not being allowed to sell alcohol and the "package stores" not being open on Sunday in Georgia. I guess the church speaks even louder in Europe. Would they please STFU?
@VioletBlue: I arrived for my semester abroad on a Saturday, the next day I woke up with a hankering for, um, food and there were no grocery stores open. I did find a bakery after a good little walk. The good thing about greves (strikes) is that they give you advance warning so you know to plan ahead and be sure you have your food in case the stores are shut. Oh and @Maritsa: I used to live in Texas and I remember once my mom tried to buy a 6 pack of beer at HEB on a Sunday and the checker looked at my mom like she was an alchy. @nyc-caribbean-ragazza: Well, something being closed on Sunday in an historically Catholic country does at its root have to do with religion. It has evolved into something else (the French desire to reject the Anglo-Saxon over-work week), but it began because Sundays are supposed to be a day of worship.
@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: I disagree that it has "nothing" to do with religion. Yes Europe is more secular, but the Sunday thing is at least partly a holdover from more religious times. Obviously they could have abolished it if they wanted to - and I don't think it's religious anymore - but let's not act like it has no connection to religion. I mean, it's Sunday, the Christian Sabbath - it's not like they say "Hey, it's Tuesday, let's close up shop!"
@thatonegirlsays: My god! The exact same thing happened to me when I arrived for my semester abroad. I was confused as to why all the grocery stores were closed...
@RedLineRage: but there are a number of stores open on Sunday. I lived in the 6th, and you could find all kinds of places -- bookstores, fruit and vegetable markets, certainly bakeries and restos.
What isn't open are boutiques and department stores. If the Obamas had wanted to stroll around, and do a little shopping, they could have. Unfortunately, presidential families can't just take their time and windowshop.
France's Communist Party issued this statement regarding the Obamas: We don't want to talk to you no more, you J Crew wearing animal food trough wiper. We fart in a generally western direction. Your mother was a Muslin and your father smelt of elderberries. You don't frighten us, American pig dogs. Go and boil your buff arms, you children of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called 'Obama King,' you and all your silly American Dem-O-Craps!
Have people forgotten that the Obamas had EXTREMELY successful careers before becoming leaders of the free world that would grant them income, allowing Mrs. Awesome...Obama...to shop at Hermes if she so fucking pleased?
Why would you ever cry foul or deny someone buying something nice for themselves?
Also - the President is given an annual salary of $400,000. I believe that is Hermes and Manolo worthy - especially for such a lovely woman.
@embarcadero13: Well, if you're the shop girl who was dragged in on her government madated day off, I'd imagine the controversy would be keeping the stores open.
Okay, I must admit, this is a good side-effect of religion: enforced non-shopping. I don't think Sarkozy should have changed the rules for her, personally.
@Diziet_Sma: I don't think stores should be forced to close if the owners don't want them closed. Other people's religion shouldn't be there to force other people to do stuff.
Although I do agree. If he changed the rules for her, he'd have to change them for everyone.
@greengrey (raidersofthelostSTAR): I'm confused about the issue here. Were the stores forced to open? Or, is it because the elite received special treatment? How is this any different from the way ambassadors don't have to play by the rules when they go to another country?
@greengrey (raidersofthelostSTAR): I don't think they are forced to close, but that traditionally stores are closed on Sundays. As a country that prides itself in secularism, I think that saying that they don't work on Sundays due to religous reasons is not completely accurate.
@Ailatan: It looks like it is the law actually--from the article: Sarkozy has since introduced a law, expected to be voted on in the National Assembly on July 6, to allow shops in touristy areas to reamin open on Sundays.
I understand that people complain it sets a precedent for other women in that country, who have very good maternal benefits, but I think serving in government is different than most other jobs. It's not like the country goes on hold while she takes time off.
I don't know enough about what she was or was not doing to say whether she was doing a good job but the whole thing just seems off.
It was reported that Sarkozy's new wife Carla Bruni had pointed to a bed in Elysee Palace and said to Dati, "You'd have love to occupy it, wouldn't you?"
OK, that little gem has inspired me - I'm going to pitch a new show to NBC depicting life in the French administration. It'll be Bold and the Beautiful meets The West Wing . Chock full of serious political commentary and stately, swelling "This is important" music but also tons of bitchy comments, face slapping, adulterous sex, social climbing, and fake pregnancies. I really think it could be huge.
I've already started casting - Shohreh Aghdashloo will play Dati. At first I thought Eva Green couldn't play Bruni because she's too young, but then I remembered this is Hollywood and TV I'm talking about and laughed at my silliness.
"My little Arab girl"? That nickname is horrible. Who wants to go around pretending to enjoy being patronized? I say she's lucky to have lost that job.
@Michelina: Wellll.... I'm not saying it's ok to call someone that in a professional setting. I likewise don't think Bush should have called all those people Slim and whatnot (except Karl Rove, who is a Turd Blossom).
BUT, if I remember correctly (I recently reviewed a book about French society's constant struggle over hijab in public places), the word is used widely and, I think, among members of France's ethnic Arab minority. So. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Francophiles, but I don't think it's nearly as insulting as it sounds to our ears.
"There is evidence that Dati was simply not performing her job well, with a string of aides resigning over her management style, her justice ministry experiencing crisis after crisis, and the fact that France's prisons are run down and overcrowded with record suicide rates."
Male British ministers have resigned over this kind of thing. I think she probably has faced sexism and prurience, but that doesn't mean she's competent.
@bowleserised: exactly. I think she's been badly treated but long before the baby story there were reports that her ministry was in considerable disarray.
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I love Michell and I have a feeling she (and the Obama's) are being used as a scapegoat for Sarkozy to introduce a new law.
I would like to think that the Obama's would have found something else to do on a Sunday if they knew all the stores were closed.
07/01/09
You elitist!
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Sidenote: Ahhh that was my biggest culture shock when I was in Paris. NOTHING IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS, and some people (and grocery stores) enjoy extending that to Mondays. Oh and when there's a greve, everything is closed in solidarity. Including TV.
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it has nothing to do with religion. The USA is the most religious western country. Europe is a lot more secular.
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@nyc-caribbean-ragazza:
Well, something being closed on Sunday in an historically Catholic country does at its root have to do with religion. It has evolved into something else (the French desire to reject the Anglo-Saxon over-work week), but it began because Sundays are supposed to be a day of worship.
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What isn't open are boutiques and department stores. If the Obamas had wanted to stroll around, and do a little shopping, they could have. Unfortunately, presidential families can't just take their time and windowshop.
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Personally, mandatory non-shopping Sundays appeal to me - no one needs to work more than they already do.
4 day workweek FTW!
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Therewithin lies the answer to the controversey.
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Why would you ever cry foul or deny someone buying something nice for themselves?
Also - the President is given an annual salary of $400,000. I believe that is Hermes and Manolo worthy - especially for such a lovely woman.
Haters, haters, haters.
07/01/09
Was Rome hating on me when I couldn't shop at Dior because it was Easter Sunday?
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I will do better next time.
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Although I do agree. If he changed the rules for her, he'd have to change them for everyone.
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I don't know enough about what she was or was not doing to say whether she was doing a good job but the whole thing just seems off.
01/23/09
OK, that little gem has inspired me - I'm going to pitch a new show to NBC depicting life in the French administration. It'll be Bold and the Beautiful meets The West Wing . Chock full of serious political commentary and stately, swelling "This is important" music but also tons of bitchy comments, face slapping, adulterous sex, social climbing, and fake pregnancies. I really think it could be huge.
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This screenplay would not suck. Please write it!
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But wouldn't it be cooler if it was set in France? Liberté, Egalité, Adulteré*?
* I know that's not the right word and means something else.
01/23/09
@Eeva: And that's just the credits!
@bowleserised: @sarah.of.a.lesser.god (2009: a space ovumlord): How about Le Oval Orifeece ? French-sounding enough to titillate Americans without intimidating them with actual French. Although Liberté, Egalité, Sexualité has a nice ring to it.
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BUT, if I remember correctly (I recently reviewed a book about French society's constant struggle over hijab in public places), the word is used widely and, I think, among members of France's ethnic Arab minority. So. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Francophiles, but I don't think it's nearly as insulting as it sounds to our ears.
01/23/09
Male British ministers have resigned over this kind of thing. I think she probably has faced sexism and prurience, but that doesn't mean she's competent.
01/23/09