Moreover, if Sarkozy has eroded, perhaps fatally, the “sacred” symbolic nature of the presidency, his governance has failed to provide any compensating reassurance. Multiplying initiatives, being everywhere at once, accelerating the pace of reforms at the risk of confusing quality and quantity, breaking taboos, and blurring the lines between secularism and religion, Sarkozy has reinforced lingering doubts about a brilliant politician’s ability to become a statesman or at least an effective ruler.