Conventional wisdom is that the French loathe the US, and M. Bush in particular.

So evil weasily Nicolas Sarkozy headed over there and organised himself a photo op shaking the simian's hand at the Whitehouse.

Cue apoplexy in the French establishment.

"With Tony Blair, we have already had one European leader serving the interests of the Americans in Europe. We don't need a second one with Sarkozy."

So said President Chirac. One might riposte with George Bush we already have one dim-witted, arrogant President of a major state and with M. Chirac we don't need another one, but let's plunge on. Ségolène Royal, the socialist front runner to contest the election against Sarkozy was perhaps slyly introducing a bit of Clinton bashing:

"My diplomatic position will not consist of going and kneeling down in front of George Bush."

Dear oh dear.

Trouble is, Sarkozy's ratings went up. The establishment still feels - and fuels - resentment at the US pre-eminence in global affairs, a position that France's scholared elite think belongs to them. There is also standard lefty knee-jerk reaction to the US, probably more important here than in most cultured Western democracies because the knee-jerk left is bigger.

But Sarkozy has correctly guaged how far out of tune this is with the culture of the majority. Far from being anti-American, France has a streak of pro-Americanism dating back to their twin eighteenth century republican revolutions. France sent military help to the US to ensure its victory over the Brits (on exactly the same reasoning still resonating in its foreign affairs outlook - a rational mix of national self-interest and principled ideology.) But ideology is not the cultural changling. America is simply hip - the kids love Macdonalds and American clothing. And there is institutional flattery in French efforts to emulate US industrial hegemony - Airbus, attempts to create a new, French Google, even the entire European project pay a huge compliment to the US.

The Times says there is some murmured question whether France should have opposed the Iraq invasion as strongly.

Le Monde, voice of the leftish establishment, and a Radio France commentator, wondered whether France might be reaching the end of a 45-year cycle in which it has defined itself through its opposition to the United States. 

I think that's wishful thinking by the Times correspondent. You don't lose marks at the Times for bashing France and I haven't noticed a lot of French saying the decision to invade Iraq was right. Nor am I sure Le Monde speaks for that many these days. More likely, French establishment thinking, hammered by the EU constitution debacle, Le Pen, riots and more, is beginning to pay more attention to the values of the public.