John Rosenthal links to the audio/video of Nicolas Sarkozy’s victory speech from yesterday and notes the most revealing moment–when and how the French crowd reacts to Sarkozy’s message to the US:

This is what Nicolas Sarkozy said:

I want to make an appeal to our American friends: to say to them that they can count on our friendship, which has been reinforced by the historical tragedies that we have confronted together. I want to say to them that France will always be at their side when they need her help. But I also want to say to them that friendship is accepting the friends can think differently about things and that a great nation like the United States has the obligation not to obstruct the struggle against global warming, but, on the country, should take the lead in this combat, since what is at stake is the fate of all humanity.

But what was revealing was the spontaneous applause and cheering that broke out among the crowd when he uttered the words “to say to them that they can count on our friendship”: “pour leur dire qu’ils peuvent compter sur notre amitié.”

Check it out for yourselves here.

Vive lela difference. (thanks to all my french-speaking readers for the correction!)