Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and ...

Neo-Bonapartism? A parallel between Nicolas Sarkozy and Napoleon III
of a fair idea, stripped of the luxury and ostentation of words” and frankness as the “avoidance
by politicians of subterfuges to bring the greatest clarity in their approach” (1849). On this
point, and even before running for the presidency, the Sarkozy ministerial speechifying was
remarkably different from his fellow ministers’ one: his direct, and sometimes rude, style was
purposefully within the reach of the average French citizen. Exit the elaborated and difficultly
understandable political rhetoric à la française; political speeches, Sarkozy style, resembles the
daily sentencing of his audience. Bénilde analyzed in 2006 his oratory dexterity and identified
three recurring patterns: first an “emphatic appeal to interrogative forms and anaphora” («
Parce que vous croyez que... »), then “the use of stunning effects via images” (« On ne peut pas
violer impunément une adolescente dans une cave »), and finally a “posture of the “parler vrai”
and popular” (« Moi, j’essaye d’être compris des gens »). Accordingly, the use of a simple and
talkative vocabulary coupled to a drama-like storytelling served by multiple repetitions creates
an emotional connection able of, first, drawing the attention and second, keeping it all speech
long. Jean Véronis, a linguistic specialist, examined 130 speeches of the head of state in his
book Les Mots de Nicolas Sarkozy and noted that he simply recycled “commonly used
techniques thought in any good communication school” (Gillet, 2008). Such techniques involve
first a perfect flexibility vis a vis the audience’s linguistic expectations, then the putting in of a
contact with the assistance (via notably direct harangues), and finally the content’s
appropriation to wrap it with rhetoric sincerity, this latter being embodied by Sarkozy by “an
extreme personalization of power – ‘Je ne vous mentirai pas‘” (Gillet, 2008).
However, such a well studied public relation technique is not infallible: and especially since
Sarkozy, as he usually does in other domains, pushes his stratagems beyond their limits because
A website dedicated to this project is available starting Dec 7 th 2010 at: http://www.aui.ma/personal/~Y.Assaoui/
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