White House Cozy for Sarkozy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday demonstrated why he is dubbed “Sarko l’Américain,” bursting onto the Washington scene hugging and backslapping, reports the New York Times. He clearly enjoyed his first official visit to the US despite lingering pain over his pending divorce from wayward wife, Cécilia.

“I come to bear a very simple message on behalf of all Frenchmen,” he said at a formal White House dinner. “I want to reconquer the heart of America.” Earlier he told the French American Business Council: “I never quite understood why we had to fight with the United States. I never quite got it.” (More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)