I may be French, but I don’t find President François Hollande’s dalliance with actress Julie Gayet cute. And I don’t think a politician can do whatever he wants because it’s his private business, either.
Hollande should keep it in his pants and do the job he fought long and hard to land. It’s only five years — 10 if he’s re-elected — a bit of focus shouldn’t be too much to ask.
I’m not the only one to think that. They may be reputed to consider affairs with an open mind, but even the French are getting tired of this nonsense, especially after the Sarkozy years.
Plugging his new book, “The Ballad of Rikers Island” — yes, about the DSK affair — on the radio last week, novelist Régis Jauffret was blunt: “We have this teenage thing in France where we say, ‘Oh but he’s in love.’ But I don’t care that he’s in love! He wasn’t elected to be in love — he was elected to do his job.”
This advice, by the way, applies to pols everywhere, not just French ones. Think of where Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner, to name just two local dudes, would be right now if they had kept their nose to the work grindstone.
But back to Hollande.
While I do love the fact that he slept with a woman who played Helen of Troy in a recent TV series, the most ironic part of it all is that Hollande thought he could control the media.
Back in October 2010, he gave an interview to celeb mag Gala in which he described his partner Valérie Trierweiler as “the woman of my life.” (Said woman of Hollande’s life had a breakdown and spent a week in the hospital after news of his cheating broke out.)
At least some are cashing in on the presidential revelations.
The type of motorcycle helmet that Hollande wore riding to and from Gayet’s apartment sold out in days. Manufacturer Motoblouz even changed the model’s name from “Milano” to “President.”
Alluding to the similarly helmeted electronic dance duo, a radio station blared, “Mr. President, we know you’re a fan. Daft Punk is on Virgin Radio’s playlist.”
Car-rental company Sixt advised, “Mr. President, next time don’t take a scooter. Sixt rents out cars with tinted windows.”
Online dating service Be2 counseled Trierweiler by recycling Hollande’s own campaign slogan: “Dear Valérie, ‘change is now.’ ”
But Hollande ain’t seen nothing yet — wait until Trierweiler, a journalist known for her quick, acid tongue, gets her turn at the mike.