Ted's death - big news in Ireland, hardly news in France

Posted by TheYank at 8/27/2009 5:48 PM EDT

Last night I stayed in a little hotel just on the French side of the France/Belgium border. This morning I got a copy of the local paper (it was just lying around, I can't speak French) and was thumbing through it. Inside I came across a small item with the headline, "Ted Kennedy est mort." Like I said, I don't speak French, but even I could understand that one.

And I could pretty well understand the whole article. Why? Because it was about 35 words. That's it. That's all the coverage Senator Kennedy's death got in NW France. Quite a contrast to all the words written about Senator Kennedy in today's Irish papers.

There are times when America seems far away from Ireland, but when I'm in France or Belgium it seems as if the distance to Ireland is far greater than it is when I'm in New York. The death of Senator Kennedy was one of those times.

Of course Senator Kennedy was connected to Ireland, which is why the coverage was so extensive in the Irish papers. Still, there was a lot of analysis of his Senatorial career completely unrelated to his efforts on behalf of Ireland. There's just so much interest in America in Ireland, far more than there is in the goings-on in Ireland's fellow EU members.

Excepting Britain, I would say that 95% of the population would be hard pressed to name any European politicians that are not Prime Ministers. And, 95% may well be too low.