REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/Pool
French First Lady Carla Bruni made millions as a top model, and since has managed to attain pop singing fame despite rather limited vocal abilities. Good thing the music gig is working out for her, though, because Bruni has now demonstrated why she’s never going to win a day job as spokesperson and cheerleader for husband President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2012 re-election bid.
French daily Le Parisien ran a story Monday featuring quotes from long time leftist sympathizer Bruni wiping those progressive political affiliations away like so much running make up. “We were trendy, we were leftists, but I never voted in Italy then…I don’t feel very leftist now,” Bruni said–noting things she’s seen French lefties say and do since becoming France’s First Lady in 2008 “have really shocked me.”
(More on TIME.com: See Story About Sarkozy’s Re-Election Chances)
“I have never voted for the left in France and, let me tell you, I’m not about to start doing so now,” Bruni declared, emphatically putting her vote where her new political affinities (and personal relationships) are. Oddly, however, neither the Parisien or other media who jumped on the story bothered to examine the tissue-thin significance of Bruni’s electoral devotion to the French right. The Italian-born Bruni was only naturalized following her Feb. 2008 marriage to Sarkozy, and her own comments indicate she was granted French citizenship (and the right to vote) in July 2008. There have only been two elections in France since then: one a European parliament race a minority of French voters participated in; the other regional polling that saw the left thrash Sarkozy’s reigning conservatives. So much for the historical depth (and influence) of Bruni’s public rallying to the right.
Elsewhere in the story Bruni says she’ll unswervingly back Sarkozy in his expected 2012 re-election bid. One on hand, he’ll need all the support he can get. Polls indicate several leftists (the sort Bruni would previously have been inclined to back) trouncing Sarkozy were voting to be held today. On the other hand, however, analysts of Sarkozy’s dismal approval numbers say conservative voters who’ve turned their back on him have been put off in large part by his penchant for bling-bling, unabashed love of money and luxury, evident pride in his rich and famous friends, and his inability to distinguish his public job with personal (and familial) interests. Who’s that billionaire heiress/model/pop star stumping for Sarko again?
(More on TIME.com: See Photos of Sarkozy and Bruni’s 2008 Visit To London)
The obvious answer to that question is why–dodgy pipes notwithstanding–Bruni should probably stick to singing rather than speaking her mind if she really wants to help her husband’s best political interests.