The slight irony with making Obama the centre of the party is that De Gaulle insisted that all coloured (over 3,500 Morrocan and Algerian) French troops in 2nd Armoured Div were kept out of sight during the division's entry to Paris.
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Sarkozy isn't stupid, though. He's worked out that he needs the US more than he needs the UK, which given our rather broke status both financially and politically, isn't hard to work out.