Sarkozy Dealt Blow 100 Days Before Vote With Loss of AAA

President Nicolas Sarkozy has fewer than 100 days before French elections to overcome the blow dealt by Standard & Poor’s decision to strip the country of its AAA credit rating for the first time.

After saying in October that he would do everything possible to retain the top credit rating that one of his advisers called a “national treasure,” the cut to AA+ may hurt Sarkozy’s reputation for economic management and diminish his stature in discussions to end the European debt crisis, said political analysts such as Emmanuel Riviere, a pollster at TNS Sofres in Paris.