Sarkozy blunt on U.S. healthcare reform

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to break diplomatic protocol during a talk at Columbia University yesterday evening. Claiming he was going to "speak from the heart,"  Sarkozy toed a very fine line between personal commentary and interference in another country’s domestic affairs: Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the ...

ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images
ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images
ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to break diplomatic protocol during a talk at Columbia University yesterday evening. Claiming he was going to "speak from the heart,"  Sarkozy toed a very fine line between personal commentary and interference in another country's domestic affairs:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seemed to break diplomatic protocol during a talk at Columbia University yesterday evening. Claiming he was going to "speak from the heart,"  Sarkozy toed a very fine line between personal commentary and interference in another country’s domestic affairs:

Welcome to the club of states who don’t turn their back on the sick and the poor.

Yikes. He went on:

If you come to France and something happens to you, you won’t be asked for your credit card before you’re rushed to the hospital.

While Sarkozy’s speech may have stepped on a few toes, it is hard to argue with his point. It’s astonishing to see a number of Americans whipped into an irrational frenzy over provisions that don’t exist and never did exist in the reforms. The cries of socialism were absurd enough, but the sudden surge in threats of violence against Democrats has no place in a democratic society.

Andrew Swift is an editorial researcher at Foreign Policy.
Read More On Health | United States

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.