Operation "Lookit Me!" may have just hit a wall. Ever since French President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in May, leaked media reports on his private life have increasingly overshadowed political news that was often less uplifting. But French pundits and pollsters are now saying that if that preference for soft news over hard has been orchestrated by the Elysée, it is beginning to backfire. New opinion polls are showing serious erosion in Sarkozy's support — and displeasure with the overexposure of his private life — just when the news splashes that he plans to wed former super-model Carla Bruni. The Sunday paper Journal du Dimanche ran a front-page photo of Sarkozy and Bruni together under the headline "They're Getting Married! The 9th of February?" The accompanying story offered details of the diamond-studded ring Sarkozy slipped on Bruni's finger as he proposed to her, along with an eye-batting reply that would have given even Barbara Cartland the vapors ("Monsieur le President, I have no reason to refuse you"). The story ends on a similarly schmaltzy note, promising readers, "If you loved Grace Kelly in Monaco, you'll adore Carla Bruni in the Elysée."
Or not, as it turns out. Sunday's daily Le Parisien published a new opinion poll showing Sarkozy's public approval rating had dropped seven points since December to 48%. Perhaps just as bad for the reportedly altar-bound Sarkozy, however, was that poll's finding that 48% of respondents said he overexposes his private life.
