To an American, there are clear domestic analogies to the four principal figures in the race: Obama; Sanders; Trump; and Cruz. One is young, charismatic, and inexperienced, and wants to govern above party; one wants to make France a Bolivarian republic (does he have any idea what Venezuela is like these days?); one wants to make France great again by bringing back Vichy; and the last has a hankering for Thatcherite Britain, and holds others to a higher ethical standard than he imposes on himself.
I will readily concede that it is very possible that Macron could be completely ineffective, due to his lack of support in the National Assembly, and that his administration could just be five more years of aimless drift. In light of the alternatives, however, Hollande without the chicks doesn’t look so bad.
Choisissez bien, mes amis.