Dominique Strauss-Kahn will fly home to a France divided over his reputation

The spectacular collapse of the rape case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn has prompted a bout of soul-searching in France amid fresh debate over how clean the former presidential hopeful has emerged from his American "ordeal". 

As Strauss-Kahn prepared to collect his passport from police in New York, friends and supporters declared him blanchi – literally whitened – cleared and vindicated after accusations that had blackened his name and stymied his attempt to become the next president of France in 2012. Others, even those from the traditional left, believe that the Socialists' one-time "providential man" will fly home less blanchi and more a grubby shade of grey. 

Commentators veered between outrage at DSK being paraded in handcuffs after his arrest in May and admiration for the US justice system dealing with the case rapidly and letting him go. Philosopher Daniel Salvatore Schiffer, a Strauss-Kahn defender, described the court's decision as "courageous and honest" and said it had allowed the emergence of "if not the truth, which we will probably never know … but at least impartiality." 

But Le Monde pointed out that Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was forced to quit as head of the International Monetary Fund, had not been "totally whitened" as the case had been dropped because of a lack of witnesses or proof that the "hasty sexual relations" between Strauss-Kahn and chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo were forced or consensual. 

On the eve of the Socialist party's summer conference in the seaside town of La Rochelle, where six rival candidates for the presidential nomination will gather this weekend, some felt the return of the left's former champion was an unwelcome distraction. Most of his supporters are now backing other candidates, including frontrunners François Hollande and Martine Aubry. Hollande has spoken of Strauss-Kahn's economic expertise being "useful to his country" but nobody is seriously suggesting the rules of the primary election be altered to allow him to stand.