Found this via Sam Roggeveen at the Interpreter. (For those unfamiliar with the Interpreter, this farewell post by the Lowy Institute’s outgoing executive director is a fine introduction.)
For whatever it’s worth, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been making noise about allowing French department stores to open on Sundays for a few years now. He just used Michelle Obama’s experience because he figured she’d make for a good marketing ploy. But he didn’t really think it through, because a great part of the Obama’s appeal is their down-to-earth image. Here, Sarkozy calls some of his VIP pals to get them to open their stores for a personal, royal visit, tarnishing the Obama ladies with his own bling bling image. The piece doesn’t mention the stores in question, but I’m assuming we’re not talking about a couple boutiques, but rather high-end department stores.
My guess is a backlash, more widespread than the response of the Communist Party, which at this point is politically irrelevant even among the far-left fringe.