Carla Bruni, Michelle Obama, and Where is My Guitar?

I'm watching our President speak in Strasbourg, France. He's finishing up at the G20 summit after having met with European leaders during the week. He and Michelle have been schmoozing the last few days with Gordon Brown, the English Prime Minister, the Queen at Buckingham Palace and Nicholas and Carla Bruni Sarkozy, the President of France and his very cool model/singer wife.

I am going to say something that I rarely say. I am kind of proud of him this morning. Let me preface (so that all of my conservative friends don't stop reading right now and send me angry e-mails) by saying that I still disagree with much of what he stands for. But we have become so accustomed to being disliked around the world that it is almost shocking to see our leader treated like a rock star. When he and Michelle took the stage this morning, the skeptical, disdainful French audience went crazy. I was too young to remember the reaction that President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy received in Europe when he was President, but from all I have read, it was very similar. I don't think it has much to do with his political views, although they responded very positively to some of his opinions. But it seems to be more to do with his willingness to listen and not dictate. He makes it very clear that he wants to work with the European leaders. But I also like the fact that he is not taking the blame for everything. He actually chastised them for disliking Americans after all the good we have done in the world.

Amazing...he is actually taking questions from the audience. This is really brave in a mostly French audience. I am also happy to see him not depending on a tele-prompter.

Michelle has looked lovely the entire trip. I loved her little coat dress ensemble that she wore when she met the Queen. Very proper and appropriate, but also very fashionable. The Queen actually gave her a hug...very un-Queenlike. The she wore a a teal blue Jason Wu dress that looked just stunning on her. This morning she has on a deep Magenta tailored dress that is also lovely. She has lunch today with Carla Bruni, the French President's wife. She is one of the few women who rivals Michelle in her ability to wow. I have to side-bar here and say that I love Bruni. I loved her back when she was a famous super-model. In my past life, I had a brief modeling career. I absolutely hated it, but I did try to model myself after Bruni. Besides the fact that she is stunningly beautiful, she knows how to walk a runway. She also knows how to dress with the perfect mixture of wow and cool. She took up a singing/songwriting career a few years back (before she married Sarkozy) and she is really talented. (Her CD "Quelqu'un m'a dit" is so good, too.) I have to admit that she is the reason I tuned in today. I wanted to see what she would be wearing. But she isn't there yet, so it will have to wait.

Well, I don't know. I think the United States needs to lead. I think we have to take the tough stances that many countries aren't willing to take. But you know what?...it's ok to be liked too. If for some reason our new President colors us in a new light to the rest of the world, I guess that is ok as long as we remain true to who we are.

I'm going to allow myself a few minutes today to enjoy the fact that the Europeans seem to like us a bit right now. I'm thinking this is good news for my friend Kelly who is headed to Paris this next week. It will be interesting to hear if she gets friendlier treatment.

So until next week, when I will be digging out my old guitar so I can be like Carla Bruni...