President Barack Obama is greeted by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni at the G8 Summit dinner in Deauville, France.

PARIS – These last days in France has seen Left-wing groups organize a massive and successful internal referendum in order to designate their leader for the 2012 Presidential elections. No surprises here. After two terms with Chirac and one with Sarkozy, the French people are looking for alternatives. In this time of crisis, solutions coming from the Left are certainly considered with more interest on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, while our banks undergo severe attacks, unemployment is on the rise and there are numerous other problems to solve, Nicolas Sarkozy still remains the leading candidate to succeed himself. His ideas are powerful, and  Sarkozy knows how to convince an audience better than any other candidate. For those of you who understand french, just check the YouTube video of when he destroyed Segolene Royal five years ago in a memorable televised debate…

The man commutes himself into an amazing speaker when it comes to winning an election; and at a time when people want to be fooled by ideas, it’s a good skill to have.

For France I don’t know, but for Israel and the Jewish people, Sarkozy is quite good news. Indeed, Sarkozy is certainly the most Jewish French President ever. His wife, grand-mother’s family and grandson have strong Jewish roots. It is well known that Sarkozy’s mother was born to the Mallah family, one of the oldest Jewish families of Salonika, Greece. A number of years ago, he was Mayor of Neuilly, a tiny posh city near Paris where a substantial Jewish community resides. At that time, he was seen attending synagogue on Yom Kippur; very rare behavior in a country where secularism (Laicite) represents a fundamental value. Additionally, Sarkozy has shown himself to be a close friend of both the United States of America and Israel. During his tenure, he marked a real interest in working for Gilad Shalit’s release, and in a country where anti-zionism is widespread, he has often stressed how crucial it is to defend Israel’s right to exist.