Normal? Moi? IT ALL started with the word “normal”. François Hollande chose the term to define the sort of president he promised to be. To the French ear, it means more than ordinary: it suggests something that conforms to the rule, the way things should be. After the look-at-me term of Mr Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose self-promotion matched his dizzying hyperactivity, the word “normal” met a yearning for more modest government and simpler times. If only, the word seemed to say, things could go back to the way they were.A year after his election, Mr Hollande finds himself cast as a normal president for what is turning out to be a most abnormal time. The economy has slid back into recession. The government has been forced to postpone its promise to cut the budget deficit to 3% of GDP. Firms are struggling to stay competitive. Unemployment is rising. And, with a 24% poll rating, Mr Hollande’s popularity has sunk to a record low for the Fifth Republic. A miserable 5% of the French think things will improve.The normal president faces two uncommonly testing tasks: to fix France’s competitiveness problem, including its over-…
