You wouldn't be a Rafale apologist, would you?
On a more serious note;
I won't deny politics are very important for fighter sales, but they're not the only reason something is or is not selling.
If your argument was true, there wouldn't be a single Gripen flying outside Sweden. The Swedish "political clout" abroad after all is about 1/1000th of the French one.
No, I'm a Super Hornet man myself.
The Gripen can tick a lot of political boxes. It can provide a 4.5 generation fighter for the least cost of the current crop, and doesn't exhibit favour to any great power. It says to neighbours that a country is serious about defending itself but doesn't own a long-range, high-payload offensive weapon.