The French vote "Non"

Everyone seems to be interested in the vote by France to reject the proposed Constitution advanced for the EU. My interest in the French is fairly minimal, but with everyone so excited, I have made a small effort to see what all the excitement is about. The best I can come up with is the lower class of France voted no because it would likely infringe on the French "way of life". This could mean a lot of things, but the common interpretation is it would have perhaps required one to work longer than 35 hours a week with fewer holidays and shorter vacation times. Makes sense to me. What I don't really understand, and I don't care enough to investigate further, is why Chirac, who fought hard for approval, is now firing people in his administration in response to the rejection.Oh, well.