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Although the "freedom fries" debacle and the conservative boycott of French wine lent a slightly frigid air to the Franco-American relationship under the Bush Administration, things have warmed considerably since Nicolas M. Sarkozy, the new face of the French executive, took up residency at the Elysée Palace. In what many in the French electorate seemed to consider a choice between the lesser of two evils, Sarkozy bested the Socialist Segolene Royal in the presidential election last May. From his dramatic fallout with his former mentor, Jacques Chirac, to his stunningly quick courtship and marriage to a former model, Carla Bruni, the life of Nicolas Sarkozy has garnered viewer ratings worthy of a first-rate soap opera.

Although he was elected handily with 53% of the French electorate's support in the second round, Sarkozy's ratings have dropped steadily in recent months. Recent poll numbers in Le Monde peg his approval at 37%, attributing his sinking popularity to the overexposure of his private life in the media. France has not traditionally been the country to create stars out of its politicians: the private lives of presidents have generally been considered of secondary interest to the public policies that they advocate. Sarkozy's transgression of this unstated rule has stirred significant resentment among the media and the public alike. Many now feel that they have too much information about his romantic initiatives but are insufficiently informed as to what he is doing, for instance, to reduce the high cost of living. The French tolerance for scandal is infamous: when former president Francois Mitterand was asked by a presumptuous young journalist about his long-time lover and their daughter born out of wedlock, he famously responded, "Et alors?"—"So?"

This tradition of treating the private lives of politicians as precisely that is not one shared across the Atlantic, where the American press's appetite for the details of President Clinton's libidinous indiscretions bordered on pathological. Given the hundreds of articles published discussing Ms. Lewinsky's "blue dress," it is difficult to imagine the American media casually overlooking a long-time mistress and illegitimate child. And while the legal institutions in the US formally recognize the public's right to know about "public characters" (as established in the New York Times v. Sullivan case in 1964), the American citizenry's zeal for the private exploits of their leaders seems more a function of cultural entrenchment than legal precedent.

It is therefore not wholly surprising that Sarkozy is by far the most popular French president in the United States in decades. His activities have instigated gossip as salacious as that surrounding Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday" to JFK. What is it about this twenty-first-century Napoleon that has captured the American imagination? Is it his anomalous status as a French workaholic? Or that he jogs (mon Dieu!) in shorts? More likely, it is his hawkish stance towards Iran, his soft spot for Israel, and his rhetoric in support of globalization that endear him to Americans. Still, the image he has created certainly seems to help.

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Sarkozy's reception in Washington has been favorable on both sides of the aisle. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, told CNN, "It is nice to have someone who's head of France who doesn't have a knee-jerk reaction against the United States." Newt Gingrich, a Republican congressman and former Speaker of the House, praised Mr. Sarkozy as "the candidate of the future" whose views are "more in line with ours."

For his part, Sarkozy has also encouraged American affections, praising the United States as the "greatest democracy in the world" and waxing eloquent about the "joint destiny of France and America." In a speech to Congress this past November, Sarkozy declared that "America can count on France," words unthinkable from Jacques Chirac.

Recently hailed by CBS in a documentary entitled "Sarkozy the American," the French president has continued to cultivate his image as a supporter of the US. In an interview with 60 Minutes, Sarkozy displayed pictures of his ex-wife and former supermodel, Cecelia Sarkozy, while visibly reveling in the interviewer's comparison between himself and the Kennedys. Even his choice of recreation, not boules but outdoor jogging, smacks of Americanism, adhering far more to the athletic traditions of Carter, Clinton and Bush than any of his predecessors. According to Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, "Mr. Sarkozy is now lodged in the minds of Americans as their kind of guy." Images of the President riding a horse last April were published in several major American newspapers including the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. In France, however, the left-leaning newspaper, Libération, remarked on his costume of a red-checked shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots, also worn by Mr. Bush on his ranch. The newspaper ultimately dismissed the event as a media stunt, saying of the first round victor, "Everything for the image, right up until the last minute."

Despite his reconnection with the "land of opportunity," Mr. Sarkozy's economic and social policies remain fiercely and idiosyncratically French. His attempts to combine cuts in taxes and appeals for a more entrepreneurial, can-do spirit with a statist belief in industrial policy and political management of the Euro exchange rate have had little traction in recent discussion with the National Parliament.

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Although his larger-than-life persona might earn him points with the American public, it is decidedly irritating to the French. Sarkozy's conscious cultivation of his own celebrity has often been deemed inappropriate by both the public and the media. His six appearances on the front page of Paris Match magazine since his election, for example, have struck some as excessive.

Deliberate displays of his connections to the business elite in Europe, such as his Mediterranean retreat on the yacht of a billionaire friend, have not helped him preserve his "man of the people" campaign image. He was pounded by the leftist press for going on a rich person's holiday and for being "utterly vulgar, arriviste, and crass." His messy separation and eventual divorce from Cecelia Cigarner-Albeniz and blitzkrieg courtship of Carla Bruni garnered almost constant attention from world media, but was heavily criticized in France as "overexposure." Even right-leaning papers, such as Le Figaro, have published waspish comments, complaining that "while a barrel of petrol flirts with the hundred dollar mark, so Nicolas Sarkozy flirts with Carla Bruni." The public is in agreement, with 82% of the French believing that Sarkozy's behavior concerning his private life does not match their idea of a how a president should act.

Sarkozy's relationship with the French media has been further strained as of late, with accusations flying that he is subject to preferential treatment derived from his personal relationships with wealthy media conglomerates. Sarkozy's carefully cultivated image as a dedicated athlete suffered a blow when he was accused of demanding that an unflattering shirtless photo be airbrushed. Apparently, he had ordered that his unsightly poignées d'amour—love handles—be diminished, raising questions as to how far he would go to satisfy his own vanity. Sarkozy is also suing a prominent publication, Le Nouvel Observateur, for libel: the magazine's website had published a text message they claim he sent to his ex-wife, pleading for her return. Jean Daniel, the magazine's founder and director, apologized but has not retracted the message. He noted with minimal sympathy that "Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy himself threw his personal life to the wolves."

Sarkozy's success in constructing an image that appeals to Americans contrasts rather sharply with the disdain this image has met at home. In the end, the new leader of the Fifth Republic has, if nothing else, successfully portrayed himself as a rejection of what has come before in France. Even since he rode to victory on the rhetoric of "change" favored by many of his transatlantic contemporaries, France has battled high unemployment rates, economic stagnancy, and increasing ethnic division. No amount of self-styling can disguise the need for effective leadership in France's head of state.