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Ever since France’s Socialist president François Hollande arrived on the world stage, he has faced questions from his party rank-and-file. Is he radical enough to stand up for the left, as his rhetoric would indicate? Or willing to cut compromises with capitalists, as his career would indicate? He and his cabinet often claim to be acting in the spirit of Barack Obama. Much as the president has tried to make oil companies surrender leases they aren’t exploiting, Hollande campaigned on forcing companies that want to close down a production site to seek a buyer for it. Hollande’s recovery minister, Arnaud Montebourg, gave an interview to CNBC recently in which he defended the idea of nationalizing industries. “Barack Obama’s nationalized,” he...