‘Rain man’ to the rescue? France’s ex-president Hollande plots unlikely comeback

After a sweltering summer that torched France’s forests and bled its rivers dry, could former “Rain Man” president François Hollande be the answer to the country’s woes? The former Socialist leader who famously braved downpours through much of his time in office has crept back into the limelight, a decade after leaving the Elysée Palace with the lowest ratings in modern French history. Hollande has been a ubiquitous figure in France’s “rentrée politique”, the late-summer frenzy of party gatherings and trade fairs traditionally marking the start of a new political season – this one leading up to next year’s presidential election. At every stop, he has cultivated the media, laid out policy proposals and left the door wide open to a possible presidential run, telling reporters he will decide in December whether to rally behind a suitable candidate or throw his hat in the ring. Another shot at the Elysée may sound preposterous for a man whose ratings sank as low as 4 percent in the gruelling twilight of his presidency, forcing him to become the first sitting president of the Fifth Republic not to seek a second term. Ten years on, however, many in France have come to take a more lenient...