We’ve come a long way from “freedom fries”
WASHINGTON — A few years ago, they wouldn’t serve “french fries” in the congressional dining room. Now, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will address a joint session of Congress.
It’s quite a turnaround for those especially conservative voices on Capitol Hill who once used “France” as an epithet. You don’t really need me to tell you this, but a big reason has been Sarkozy himself. His posture toward America has been received much more positively in Washington than Jacques Chirac’s. He even spent his summer vacation in New Hampshire, rather than on the Côte d’Azur or another lovely, sunny French locale.
And so now Sarkozy, “l’Americain,” will speak before Congress, who will surely receive him well. Maybe the dining room will even serve steak frites that day.