France faces biggest uncertainty of Macron era 

AMERICAN writer Mark Twain is widely credited with the maxim that “history never repeats itself, but it often rhymes”. This points to the similarities or patterns in some events over time, even as key details change.

While the French political system is very different from that in the United States, parallels were drawn as early as 2017 about the careers of presidents Emmanuel Macron and Barack Obama. While their terms of office did not overlap, the two share many personal characteristics including their youth, charisma and “insurgent” status in winning their nation’s top political office.

In 2017, the dynamic, daring Macron upended the longstanding French political duopoly of the right-of-centre Republicans and left-of-centre Socialists to win power. Yet, even at the start of his first presidential term, some commentators – including this writer – wondered if there might be another later parallel between Obama and Macron.