In the 2004 election, a sizable bloc of the American electorate felt dissatisfied with what they perceived to be a condescending tone in the foreign policy of the Bush Administration. President Bush’s bluntness, they argued, alienated the more sensitive, cerebral Europeans. Maybe America would be more popular in the world if only Mr. Bush were more subtle, more sophisticated, more—dare I say—French. Fortunately for President Bush, Jacques Chirac, the President of France, was able to take some time out of his busy schedule to demonstrate why the French have been known as masters of delicate diplomacy since the days of Napoleon:

Jacques Chirac stirred the pot at a meeting in Russia on Sunday when he joked to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [German Chancellor] Gerhard Schroeder that the British could not be trusted and worse food was only found in Finland.

The French president declared that the only thing the British have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease, the French daily Liberation reported.

Mr Chirac then reportedly said: “You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.”

[Chirac’s] jibes may have amused Mr Putin and Mr Schroeder, but they are unlikely to have pleased members of the Paris 2012 bid team lobbying the International Olympic Committee in Singapore. Mr Chirac’s absence while Tony Blair has been working on London’s behalf has been noted, but Paris officials have excused it by insisting that the president would arrive in time for the final presentation on Wednesday, which Mr Blair will miss.

Let’s hope President Bush takes note and adjusts his rhetoric to be more in line with European sensibilities. He might finally be able to win over the French, Russians and Germans.