Sarkozy's Yacht Holiday: His First Faux Pas?

May 11, 2007 — -- In a battle that would have made Napoleon proud, Nicolas Sarkozy defeated Segolene Royal, France's first serious female presidential candidate. After the victory, the America-loving Sarkozy decided to take a well-deserved break before becoming France's big cheese.

Sarkozy and his wife joined their CEO friend Vincent Bollore on his 190-foot yacht Monday for a cruise around the Mediterranean island of of Malta.

But luxury and presidency do not always go well together in the country of "bobo" -- bourgeois bohemian. Many French said "non" to the luxury yacht vacation.

The French daily le Monde published a cartoon showing Sarkozy's wife, Cecilia, on the yacht's deck asking the poor to make less noise.

Francois Hollande, opposition leader and partner of left-wing candidate Segolene Royal, criticized Sarkozy for taking a vacation that would cost the equivalent of 17 years worth of a worker's basic salary.

Sarkozy returned to Paris this morning to attend a slavery commemoration with current President Jacques Chirac, but he was unrepentant.

While he was still in Malta, Sarkozy told the press that his trip did not cost any money to the French taxpayers -- it was offered to him by his multimillionaire pal Bollore.

"I don't see the controversy," Sarkozy told the press. "I have no intention of hiding. I have no intention of lying. I have no intention of apologizing."

According to Dominique Moisi of the International Relations Institute of Paris, the yacht episode was probably Sarkozy's first faux pas since his election.

"It is hard to gather all the French if you show off such luxury," she said. By taking a luxury vacation just after his election, Sarkozy sent "the wrong message at the wrong time," said Moisi.

During his interview with the press, Sarkozy sent another message. Unlike most French presidents, he is set to actively support America. He showed it by wearing an NYPD T-shirt during the interview as he finished a jog on a beach on Malta.

Was that a political gaffe? Moisi doesn't think so. "He was himself," said the analyst. "He probably found it amusing."