From the very beginning, he has styled himself as a star and, as his recent romance with pop star Carla Bruni has shown, he enjoys going public with his private life.
Colombe Pringle, the editor of glossy magazine Point de Vue, believes it is a clever ploy to help cover up political failures. (((It also blurs Sarkozy's successes, but that's the price he pays.)))
"Everyone is only talking about the love story. Why are you here talking to me?
"Each time there was something embarrassing for the government or when French people were starting to doubt, something happened in his private life.
"He's using it maybe. And he chose well with Carla because she's beautiful, she's well known over the world. She's the perfect media tool," Mr Pringle says.
The Sarkozy show is carefully directed by none other than the president himself. (((And this is bad because? What use is a President who can't handle media?)))
Friends in media
Jean Louis Missika, a media analyst, believes he deliberately force-feeds the media machine until it can take in no more.
He says Mr Sarkozy's strategy is to saturate the media. Every new event that happens under Mr Sarkozy starts before the end of the last one.
This means there is no space for the opposition and no space for the media to make commentary, or analysis and evaluation, on what happened during the last media event.
That accusation is not denied by the president's spin doctor. Thierry Saussez has been working with Nicolas Sarkozy since the late 1980s and says the president enjoys keeping the press on its toes...
