It’s an old term with origins during the Cold War: Leader of the Free World. And it has always meant the president of the United States.
There were three worlds: the Free World, the Communist World, and the Third World (nations not aligned with either of the other two blocs, in case you didn’t know the origin of that phrase).
The Free World, the nations aligned against the threat of communism, referred to the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, West Germany, and other U. S. allies.
With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Cold War isn’t what it used to be. But some of the terminology remains. Including referring to the president of the United States as “Leader of the Free World.”
But is that accurate any more?
No.
The Leader of the Free World doesn’t bow to other leaders.
Obama has abandoned the role: he is not the Leader of the Free World.
So, who is?
Certainly not the leader of any communist country, or any dictatorship. And, I’m thinking a leader of the Free World should be the leader of a country with a major presence on the world stage.
No offense to our friends in Australia, New Zealand, or Canada, but those countries just aren’t major players. Certainly, they are more so than, say, Luxembourg or Iceland, but they’re not at the top of the pyramid.
So, who?
Let’s look at the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: the Unites States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China.
Obama has already relinquished the title, so the leader of the U.S. is out. Four to go.
China? China is communist. Free World? Just the opposite. Two down, three to go.
Great Britain? They have a queen. A queen? A non-elected monarch? As leader of the Free World? Three down, two to go.
So, who’s left?
Russia and France.
Who’s the president of Russia? Vladimir Putin? Actually, no. It’s Dmitry Medvedev. Former president (and current Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin might be running the show, but Medvedev is president, elected by the people. Forget all the other problems with Russia, the leader isn’t the person elected by the people. So, four down, one to go.
That leaves: France.
Yes, France. The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is leader of the Free World.
France, despite all the jokes we throw her way, has a long, storied military history. The Franks took Gaul from the Romans, Charlemagne controlled much of Europe and the Mediterranean world, France helped the American colonies win the Revolutionary War, Napoleon led France to nearly conquer the world in the early 19th century…
You get my point, I hope. France isn’t a pushover.
The French government, though, has been a problem. It was the French government, not the French people, who were defeated by Germany in World War II. The people, most of them, kept fighting.
And, in recent years, the rise of the left in France has caused the French government to take weak stands against opponents of freedom.
Sarkozy defeated a Socialist Party candidate to assume the presidency in 2007, and has shown himself to be more of a leader on the world stage than Barack Obama.
True, that’s not saying a lot. But, for now, the president of France is the Leader of the Free World.
And that’s a damned shame.
November 6, 2012 can’t get here soon enough.
Well said. Dark times indeed. Do not worry there is light at the end of the tunnel. No wait that’s a flame thrower ahhhhhhhh.
I’ve heard Benjamin Netanyahu nominated for Leader Of The Free World. Israel may be small but that guy has a pair of big brass ones, as evidenced by his “Have you no shame?” remarks at the U.N.
[Netanyahu would be a legitimate heir to the title. – B]
Great, I just took three showers and still can’t get clean after reading this. FRANCE! Come on. FRANCE is all we have? I guess this can be expected when the French even look at us as being soft on Iran and decide to go it alone.
[If you think you feel bad after reading it, imagine how I felt writing it. I had joked around with some other Right Wing Extremists™ about Sarkozy being the Leader of the Free World after the incident to which you refer. And, every day since then it seems, Obama has shown that he isn’t interesting in leading the Free World.
I hope you have, like me, circled the first Tuesday in November, 2012 on your calendar. – B]
Brilliant.
The Franks were a Germanic tribe, so scratch that. Which therefore scratches Charlemagne, also a Frank.
[France, from “Francia” (Latin: Land of the Franks). And just because the Carolingians, from Pippin the Elder to Louis the Pious, were replaced by the Capetians, who were eventually replaced by the Second Republic, the military history of France remains French.
If you separate them, you must separate modern England from the Anglo-Saxons (also Germanic) from the Normans, Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, through the British monarchs (Hanovers, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/Windsor) on the throne today. It’s all England and Britain. – B]
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Credit where credit’s due. Even though Sarkozy looks like Stallone, hell, I think that’s an advantage. (He’s the guy in France running around yelling Adrienne.)
But he and Airstrip One have got to put their foot down on the growing Islam populations real fast real soon or pow.
Gads. I had to be dragged to this conclusion…after decades of cheerfully insulting my French business associates as “Cheese eating surrender monkies.”
But damned if Obama’s shameful rejection of that mantle doesn’t leave a vacuum….and the French come next ’cause there ain’t anyone else.
(Israel is in a class by themselves…and already have enough headaches without listening to the whining and complaining of 850 Million descendeants of the once admirable and proud Western Civilization.
I need to pour 4 fingers of a good single malt to get this lousy taste out of my mouth.
Let’s not forget that France is a major weapons exporter, uses nuclear energy (and has nukes) and they are not afraid to kill hippies when they need a killing.
What makes this story disturbing is that it is basicly true. I’ll be at the polls in 2012. I’ll only be enthused about it if the Republicans wake up and run an actual conservative. Hopefuly Fred will run, and run his administration from his radio show. Question: Can you be the First Lady and Secratary of State?
[> Can you be the First Lady and Secratary of State?
I assume you mean at the same time? Otherwise, you really haven’t been following the news, have you. – B]
I had read that Hillary had gotten a job. It’s nice she decided to get back to work since she didn’t do much at her last 2 jobs. Tid bit from allahpundit about Obama’s lack of cultural knowlege. Best line: “the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.”
link
What kind of testicle free girlie man have we put in Office when he makes the French look tough and manly?
I just came to the realization the other day that Sarkozy has more balls than Obama, because at least Sarkozy is willing to say that people who don’t like his country can get out of it.
Oh what a sad, sad state the world is in…
one of the most sobering things i have ever read.
When I decided to finish my degree, many people asked me if I was going to use my history interest to teach. I said no, because in my neck of the woods if you don’t coach something you can’t teach high school history or current events or whatever they’re calling it now.
Explains why people are confused about the proper etiquette between leaders. We are Americans. We fought a war so that we would NEVER have bow to anyone else, ever again. We treat others as equals because we believe “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights……” To many of us this sounds familiar but to our children they have probably never heard those words from their history teachers. ‘
Sorry but in many school systems today children are not educated in history, they are educated in advocacy, liberalism and socialism. Sad but true.
Very sobering, disturbing, many other adjectives.
But if this is all correct, there are some possibilities.
I propose we all join the French Foreign Legion and use it for our own purposes.
I possess no prior military experience, but am willing to learn.
Sorry you are soooooooooo wrong. Most of the French people DID NOT fight the Germans. The vast majority were complacent.
“If you separate them, you must separate modern England from the Anglo-Saxons (also Germanic) from the Normans, …)
Actually I do. There was no England when there were the seperate tribes of Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes. The Normans were Scandinavian. Not long landed before William crossed the channel. The British settled colonies in N America. I don’t consider their prior (or colonial era) global military conquests as part of the USA’s (military) history. Ditto for France & Spain.
[So, the Franks, for whom France was named, were not French? And the Anglos, for whom England was named, were not English? Gotcha.
I suppose that today, Britain is German? Since the House of Windsor is a German line? – B]
“And still we ask if God or man
Can loosen thee Lazarus;
Bid thee rise up republican,
And save thyself and all of us.
But no disciple’s tongue can say
If thou can’st take our sins away.”
– Algernon Charles Swinburne, Songs Before Dawn.
Maybe I’ve been praying for the wrong President?
Death before dishonor! I shall NEVER submit to the French! Mexicans maybe, but NEVER the French!
What about India? The French are Triple-A ball next to India. Far and away the world’s largest democracy; a nuclear-armed power that’s been at war with radical Islam much longer than we have; a red-hot, fast-growing, carbon-belching economy; rockin’ Bollywood dance routines; and they absolutely OWN the international call-center market.
I nominate Manmohan Singh for Leader of the Free World. (And a photo in the slideshow in the previous thread shows him standing up straight, looking Akihito in the eye, and shaking hands like a man, just in case you needed more convincing).
I dunno about India. They have too many internal issues to be free, with the clinging to the caste system, the widespread urban poverty that makes our homeless look like billionaires, and the whole socialist government system.
Personally, I don’t really have that big of a problem with France holding the position of the Free World’s leader. There are plenty of worse choices, and few states are as strong as France. They still have a top-notch military and with the aid of Germany and England could protect western Europe from most threats.
Two points:
1. Michael Yon gives the French forces in Afghanastan high marks. The problem is that there aren’t enough of them.
2. Even at lowest point in GWB’s popularity, 20% of Europeans actually still approved of him….so there are are thoughtful people there.
My point is this – I’ll grant you that France has some good people…..people that I want to have on my side in a fight. But so does San Francisco. Taken as a whole, France is just France.
The leader of the Free World in 2009 is…….drum roll please…….Stephen Harper….that’s right, Canada has the mantle.
Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes
Oh noes, teh Juuuuuuuutes!
A Frog as leader of the free world, we’re doomed! Doomed I say!
No, it’s not France. France is a member of the EU. So as of December 1, when the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, it won’t even be a proper country any more. It’ll be a state. Like Rhode Island. (Not that there’s anything wrong with RI. But I’m guessing its Governor isn’t even in the top 100 candidates for Leader of the Free World. You never know, though, the way things are going…)
It’s either Stephen Harper or Kevin Rudd. Either of which is just as scary.
Actually, I’ve just thought: it can’t be either of them, because they’ve both got the same Queen as us here in the UK. Anyone know the name of Rhode Island’s Governor?
Screw that – if our choices are France or nothing, I’ll go with the nothing. Let’s just declare Fred to be the leader of the free world.
Well reasoned, Basil. Does this mean I have to get a bad haircut, stop showering and start eating Brie? I’d rather be dead!
The world is truly upside-down when France is more of a badass than we are, and their first lady is prettier no contest. Love their fries though.
“So, the Franks, for whom France was named, were not French? ”
I’m making one distinction between tribes (in this case of regional origin) and for lack of a better term, national identity. There was no France or French identity in Charlemagne’s time. The melting pot in years gone by, took centuries to brew. The Franks during Charlemagne’s time were closer to their “Germanic” roots/culture than any contemporary or future “French” roots/culture. Do “Turkish” military history/victories claim the era when their largest city was named Constantinople? I don’t consider the French and Indian War a victory by the USA. Future citizens of the USA did participate and significantly, but the USA didn’t exist yet. We’ll never agree, so I’ll stop with this.
“Obama has abandoned the role: he is not the Leader of the Free World.”
Of course not; he’s only our temporary CEO. We, the many millions strong members of the board, are the leaders of the free world. Scary thought. Yah think maybe the power freaks have known that all along and so have conditioned us to reflexively go at each others’ throats as much as possible, instead of just being each of us free and leading the world by example (and when necessary, by nukes, Navy Seals, McDonald’s, rocket-equipped T-rexes and other international debating techniques)?
Nah. The rest of the world knows Americans aren’t going to back that grovel stuff. They show Obama respect but behind his back know he’s irrelevant. The French would like to rule the world, but Sarkozy knows who is the real leader of the free world; he just made him a Commander in the Legion of Honor: Clint Eastwood.
Heh. Makes my day.
Lets be honest France was never gonna give 2 craps about the Free-world until they were in charge of it anyway.
You’ve somehow missed the obvious:
Silvio Berlusconi
The guy is a total badass, womanizer, and has no respect for journalists. I only wish our president could be that awesome.
Je voudrais vous presenter un idee: agir une poste en Francais chaque jour, pendant que le President de la Republique Francaise soit aussi le chef de la monde libere.
Pardon, je voudrais corriger mon orthografe. Je voulais ecriver le monde libre, et non pas “la monde libere”. Tres desole. Vive le monde libre!