Is it a joke, an insult, or a snub

I'm inclined to think the whole story is a scam--the one that President Obama wrote to the former President of France, Chirac, and not the current president, Sarkozy. I realize he was running for President and was out of the office when Sarkozy was elected, but surely he picked up a newspaper from time to time. Everyone seems to be relying on the same story (in French) and you know how many of us took a foreign language in our government schools. True, he's none of the things the liberals thought he was, but he's not that stupid or poorly informed. Still, if this had been a Bush mistake. . .