When I was a young boy in America, every school room had an American flag, and every morning the class recited the pledge of allegiance. An American flag also flew outdoors, and I recall being part of the flag brigade that had the honor, at the end of every afternoon, of lowering and folding the flag, in accordance with a strict protocol.

Flags are everywhere in America, but almost nowhere in France. Only public buildings fly the flag, which tends to be weathered. When I tried to find a French flag, many years ago, the only place I could find one was a boating supply store.

Last October, Eric Besson, the French minister of Immigration and National Identity, opened a “great debate on the values of national identity” (with a web site). Maybe the debate was intended to focus public opinion, in the months leading to regional elections, on law-and-order and patriotic issues thought to favor conservatives. In other words, president Sarkozy wanted to claim the flag as his.

Prominent conservatives questioned the wisdom of holding such a debate at all. Opposition politicians uniformly and vocally criticized the proceedings. After a series of gaffes, the debate seemed to become a political liability for conservatives, and a drain on other initiatives. Prime minister François Fillon stepped in, congratulated participants, declared victory, and announced a few, very modest initiatives.

One of the initiatives involved putting flags in schools. Immigration and National Identity minister Eric Besson had proposed a flag in every classroom. This was scaled down to proposing a flag in every school.

This barren debate did shine some light on one of the oddest figures in French politics today: Immigration and National Identity minister Eric Besson. Born in Marrakech, Besson grew up in Morocco. Legend has it that, when he failed to win admission to the prestigious école nationale d’administration (ENA), Besson borrowed money from his grandmother, published an ad reading “I didn’t get into ENA!” in Le Monde, and landed a job with Renault. Drawn to politics, Besson rose to prominence in the labor party. After a messy argument with presidential candidate Ségolène Royal, Besson became a turncoat. He noisily left the labor party and teamed up with Nicolas Sarkozy. For this, Besson was rewarded with a ministerial portfolio. In addition to this public change, Besson made private changes too: he also divorced Sylvie Brunel, his wife of many years and mother of his children, and began a relationship with Yasmine Torjeman, a 22-year-old Tunisian.