Any regular reader of Sparrow Chat will be well aware of the contempt in which I hold most politicians. Corrupt, self-obsessed, wealth and power-grabbing, utterly unconcerned with the welfare of those who elected them to office, the average politician today is unworthy of his/her position; sad imitations of those few great men of history worthy to bear the title, “statesman”.
And yet, this afternoon, I sat spellbound as the words of a great statesman resounded around the Palace of Versailles, resulting in an enthusiastic standing ovation from both Houses of the French Parliament.
François Hollande, President of France, did not mince words. Neither platitude nor poll-tested pabulum passed his lips as he laid out for the world how France would deal with the evil monster, ISIS, responsible for those heinous crimes against humanity that were perpetrated in Paris last Friday evening.
I would encourage everyone to take time to listen to his words. Words that, even when spoken through a translator, stirred the soul and made one realise that, perhaps, it was time another country became, “Leader of the Free World”, rather than the insipid, spineless, shadow of itself, that is the USA today.
Indeed, by comparison, Obama’s concluding speech at the G20 in Turkey left one painfully reminiscent of that comic Gilbert and Sullivan character from, “The Gondoliers”, the Duke of Plaza-Toro.
As Obama concluded by stating, somewhat anaemically, that the world, “led by America” (of course), would eventually defeat ISIS, W.S.Gilbert’s colourful description of the Duke came flooding back:
In enterprise of martial kind,
When there was any fighting,
He led his regiment from behind —
He found it less exciting.
But when away his regiment ran,
His place was at the fore, O —
That celebrated,
Cultivated,
Underrated
Nobleman,
The Duke of Plaza-Toro!”
Move over Obama; move over Cameron, your platitudes are history. There’s a new kid on the block and no-one’s going to push his country around and get away with it.
He may be balding; he may only be 5′ 7″ – but so was Napoleon.
Vive La France!