I was in Paris a few weeks ago and during my stay, I visited the CEO of a successful company at his office. One of his secretaries entered the room, and the boss proceeded to say something to her that only a Parisian manager can get away with, without fear of legal action. "See how good it is that I live in France and not the United States-" my friend asked. French politics has been soaked in sex scandals of late: The French International Monetary Fund director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in May in New York on suspicion of raping a chambermaid. Another French minister resigned over allegations of sexual harassment, and a former minister accused a colleague of pedophilia on national television. The French have never understood why Anglo-Saxons attach so much importance to their politicians' lustful exploits. To the contrary: A popular French saying states that when a leader has it good at night, his citizens have it good during the day. There are other sayings that would also sound offensive to foreign ears. In fact, show me another country where the president's funeral is attended by both his wife and his mistress (I'm speaking of Mitterand, of course). But it seems that a new day is dawning under the Eiffel Tower. The world is changing rapidly, and France is no exception. Let's start with Dominique Strauss-Kahn. No French child was unaware that the former Finance Minister had a naughty side. Everyone knew, and kept quiet about it. Even his wife, they say, would leave the table when the subject was broached in her presence. Many people were aware that Dominique Strauss-Kahn had engaged in a lot of what the French call "foolishness." Nevertheless, while the French have never understood the charges against former President Clinton, they did understand the arrest of Strauss-Kahn. Libertinism is one thing, but rape is another thing entirely. Strauss-Kahn is still presumed innocent, but there are many people who have already written him off as guilty. The Strauss-Kahn affair has stirred up a national debate in France about appropriate sexual conduct for public figures. Now another French minister, Georges Tron, has been forced to resign following allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of his authority. Several women came forward to complain about the 53-year-old associate of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. One even said that the IMF director's arrest is what encouraged her to come forward and tell her story without fear. Tron's lawyer claims that the secretary of public affairs resigned so that he could focus on clearing his name, but the truth is that Tron resigned following pressure from President Sarkozy, who did not want to see French political life go through a process of "Berlusconization." France was still recovering from the Tron affair, when the former education minister, philosopher Luc Ferry, lit a fire by announcing, on television, that a certain minister had engaged in pedophilic acts while on vacation in Marrakech, Morocco. President Sarkozy's advisors are furious with Luc Ferry. Former Justice Minister Rachida Dati has asked Ferry to reveal the minister's identity or be silent. It seems that the age-old French custom of covering up their politicians' peccadilloes is changing. In the spirit of the French proverb, we can now say that in contrast to the past, today French citizens want to have it good, even at the expense of their leaders' night life.
