PARIS — This tackle is fair game.
A day after soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović said he was doing more for France than President François Hollande, a longtime pal of the Socialist leader politely told the critic to stick to sport, not politics.
“The president of the Republic will depend on the work he’s done … and not on the advice of a football player,” government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll, one of Hollande’s closest allies, told a weekly press conference. “It occurs to me that football sometimes gives you a lot of ambition, but that in a democracy, things are a bit more complicated.”
Le Foll’s polite rebuke may not be enough to save Hollande from further humiliation.
Dismally unpopular, with a poll by Ifop showing his approval score at 16 percent this week, Hollande has become a target for ruthless mocking on social media, and questioning from journalists that borders on the disrespectful.
Earlier this year, when he told an interviewer on live TV “Ça va mieux,” or “things are better,” referring to France’s economic situation, she shot back: “Is that a joke?”
It was not. But Hollande’s rivals jumped on the phrase to ridicule the president, whose famously upbeat demeanor regardless of circumstances has earned him nicknames ranging from “Pépère” (meaning totally relaxed and insouciant), to “Babar, king of the elephants,” to “Mister Jokey.”
“[Saying things are better] is nothing more than an ad slogan and a denial of reality,” said Arnaud Montebourg, a former industry minister under Hollande who is trying to drum up support for a possible presidential bid in 2017.
Twitter users have been more ruthless — and funnier, turning “ça va mieux” into a punchline used in any situation where things are clearly getting worse, as in: “Europe’s biggest trash incinerator is blocked by strikers #cavamieux,” tweeted by an account named Noscandidats (our candidates).
La première usine d’Europe d’incinération de déchets est bloquée. #cavamieux https://t.co/9H5SaxsFoN
— NosCandidats (@NosCandidats) May 30, 2016
Or: “I just did my taxes and I owe €245 more #cavamieux,” tweeted a user named Clochette21.
Je viens de faire ma déclaration d'impôts en ligne. + 245 €…. En effet #ÇaVaMieux. Ras le bol du racket socialiste. #HollandeDégage
— Clochette2201 ن (@Clochette2201) May 30, 2016
Others used pictures to make the point, as with user Michel Mompontet, who posted a photo of man brandishing two thumbs-up signs as he sinks into a bog, with the hashtag “#cavamieux.”
Y'a pas à dire, en France #cavamieux #oupas ? pic.twitter.com/iJ0CF4jnKO
— Michel Mompontet (@mompontet) June 6, 2016
When Hollande experimented with the live-streaming application Periscope, the internet’s reaction was swift, and for the most part unprintable.
“He’s sitting there talking but has nothing to say,” went one of the most polite comments, from one Celine 035.
Where was Stéphane Le Foll on that day?