he French are quite excited about the idea of Barack Obama becoming president of the United States.  As I shall argue, the excitement strikes me as quite disconcerting.  Of course, it does not bother me at all that anyone has a view about who would be a good president for the United States.  I welcome any and all insights about the matter.  The French, however, are advancing a line of argument that is, I believe, profoundly haunting.  It goes like this: If Obama should become president of the United States what a sign it would be that America has finally transcended its history of racism of which black slavery is the very embodiment. 

.The point sounds innocuous enough until one remembers that France, itself, has hardly been free of racism.  Indeed, there has never been a non-white president of France.  In fact the same holds for the countries of Western Europe.

To be sure, racism in France is configured rather differently from racism in the United States.  And it is, of course, true that black slavery as it existed in the United States has never existed upon the soil of France.  But the issue of skin color most certainly is not a non-issue in France. 

The people of France can be rightly proud of the fact there has never been slavery upon its soil.  But what simply does not follow from this truth is that racism involving blacks has not been a very serious problem in France.  Let me offer an example that seems to have escaped many of my friends in France. 

Although French cafés are everywhere to be found, what is striking is that there are very few blacks who are waiters.  Most are white and they range across every conceivable age and social background.  Well, not quite: Thus far, I have never really encountered a well-to-do waiter in a French café.  In any case, the point here is that there is nothing about what café waiters in France are like in terms of education or background that would explain why black waiters are a rarity. 

France is a culture of politeness.  So its racism has never had any the brutality and viciousness that was characteristic of racism in the United States.  Yet, skin color has very much mattered.  Indeed, one of the comedy sketches that appears on the radio program Rire et Chansons plays upon just that reality.   

Notwithstanding slavery in the United States, blacks have made unparalleled progress vis à vis other countries.  For instance, one would be hard pressed to visit regularly any major bank in any major American city and not find a black teller here and there—especially if one did so for more than a decade.  Yet, during precisely this time period I have seen only one black employee of my bank, which is located in the very heart of Paris.  And that black teller is now gone. 

Enough of these petty reflections, though.  Let me ask a more pointed question: Has France ever had a black in public office of the stature of Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell?  An Arab or an Asian?  Well, this question must be answered negatively. 

So when I hear French people telling me that Obama would mark the beginning of a new era for the United States were he to become president, I ask myself: What about a new era for France?  If a black face as president of the United States would signal such a turning point for the United States, then surely a black face as president of France would be equally significant.  Perhaps it would be all the more significant.

But wait a minute: If the far more racist country is the Untied States rather than France, as so many in France would have me believe, then what exactly is the explanation for why there has not been a black president of France or an Arabic president of France?  I mean why has France not even had the equivalent of a Powell or a Rice? 

Supposed I criticized you for being 100 pounds overweight and exclaim that you need to go on a diet.  Alas, it turns out that I am 70 pounds overweight.  Well, my being overweight does not change the fact that you need to go on a diet.  But the problem is that I need to heed my very own words; and something is terribly wrong if I miss that. 

Well, it seems to me that the French in their enthusiasm for Obama are failing to see that their point about the significance of Obama being a black man leading the United States applies with equal force to France.  A black or Arabic president of France would also signal that On a vraiment tourné la page ici en France.