Smooth and likeable, Jean-David Levitte, the French ambassador to the United States, spoke to a roomful of American reporters Wednesday at a hotel two blocks from the White House. And if you thought the differences between the United States and France were many and wide and deep, you were wrong. In his opening remarks, he took up the subject of French-bashing in the United States, saying he views it “with great sadness.” Facts prove the criticism of France to be baseless, Levitte told the reporters.

The ambassador was clever in his use of facts. He noted that the only time France has vetoed a Security Council resolution favored by the United States was in the Suez crisis in 1956, when America was on the same side as the Soviet Union. Also, he said the United States gets far more oil from Iraq today than France does.