The Chirac they describe lacks the degree of clear direction and application to haul a country as complex as France on to a fresh track away from its old feather-bedded, statist ways.
But our correspondent says the PPP may find Mr Sharif to be an uncomfortably powerful figure to have in opposition at a time when the country lacks a sense of political direction.
On the right, meanwhile - and in business - there are many who applaud the president's apparent change of direction but fear he lacks the will to see it to a conclusion.