I just came across the following

From Bushisms to la langue François

Basically it is saying that Hollande is strange or out of the ordinary or annoying by his tendency to use the form

Est-ce que N V ...?

(as in 'Est-ce qu'il fait beau?') instead of the more (to that writer) acceptable question inversion

V N ...?

(as in 'Fait-il beau?').

But I learned high-school English in the American school system and, though we were taught both forms, we were told that 'Le syndrome « Es-Ke »' was the preferred usage.

So which is it? What is the idea that 'est-ce que' is annoying in the president? Is it too informal (and the president is expected to speak more formally)? Do native french speakers really not use it that much? Is this author just weird, and being ironic? What is going on here? (I want to know if I should be avoiding 'est-ce que' or under what circumstances).

I just came across the following

From Bushisms to la langue François

Basically it is saying that Hollande is strange or out of the ordinary or annoying by his tendency to use the form

Est-ce que N V ...?

(as in 'Est-ce qu'il fait beau?') instead of the more (to that writer) acceptable question inversion

V N ...?

(as in 'Fait-il beau?').

But I learned high-school English in the American school system and, though we were taught both forms, we were told that 'Le syndrome « Es-Ke »' was the preferred usage.

(as a clarification, I am not asking about the pronunciation 'est ce que' vs 'es ke' but rather est-ce que vs inversion)

So which is it? What is the idea that 'est-ce que' is annoying in the president? Is it too informal (and the president is expected to speak more formally, using inversion)? Do native French speakers really not use it that much? Is this author just weird and being ironic? What is going on here? (I want to know if I should be avoiding 'est-ce que' or under what circumstances).