As my friend Joe Grieboski, head of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy said, "It is almost as if the French Government has made it a mandate to eliminate religion from the public sphere. No faith is safe." And unfortunately, banning the burqa, even if only in sentiment, will please a great many French and Western Europeans.

But what would be characterized in the US as an aggressive foreign policy statement is in France merely a cultural commentary on race and nationalism. Seen through this prism, Sarkozy’s maudlin plea for “women’s dignity” is transparent and obscures the real agenda: promoting a Western, secular, (and, in particular, French) sensibility. It has little to do with women’s rights, and even less to do with religious freedom. And in case there was any doubt, it has absolutely nothing to do with national security.

But for the United States and the rest of the free world, national security is the main, if not only, issue. Getting along well with Muslims is a concern for political, not cultural, reasons. Americans don’t need Muslims to prove (by disrobing) their commitment to Western ideals. Americans just want to live in relative security, knowing Islamic extremism is being dealt with effectively. The United States keeps Islamic extremism separate from Islam, and by targeting the burqa, Sarkozy has lazily conflated the two.

France has the largest population of Muslims in Western Europe. For this reason, Sarkozy has a particular responsibility to get this right. Opting out of actual foreign policy in favor of an arbitrary (and offensive) sartorial debate is another example of inaction disguised as action.

All indications thus far are that President Obama plans to continue America’s commitment to democracy in the Middle East and security at home. But with timidity growing on Iran, it’s unclear just how forceful he intends to be. We should all hope he doesn’t revert to a Sarkozian model: all talk, no action.