Angela Merkel, yesterday, looking more like a person just convicted of fraud than as the person just affirmed as Germany’s first female Chancellor. But, given the fractious nature of the election campaign and the uneasy coalition she has forged to govern the county, perhaps Merkel is already fearing the ides of March…
In this recent article , I heralded the election of Angela Merkel as Germany’s first female Head of State. But, despite the razor-thin margin by which she upset incumbent Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder, I did not expect the congenitally organized German Bundestag to take longer to ratify her victory than it took the perennially disorganized U.S. Congress to ratify George W. Bush’s victory in 2000.
My prediction about the composition of Merkel’s ruling coalition, however, proved correct. But my awareness of the lust for power amongst her coalition partners, and my understanding of the daunting challenges they face, cautioned me against offering predictions about Merkel’s success as Chancellor. (Challenges, incidentally, that include double-digit unemployment and a French-style restiveness amongst immigrant [Muslim] youths that could prove equally incendiary.)
Nevertheless, as I am unabashedly in favour of “woman power”, I don’t mind proclaiming my hope against hope for Merkel’s unprecedented success: Especially since she seems as disposed to moderating President Bush’s neo-con world view (as in “you’re either with us or against us”) as former British PM Margaret Thatcher was to grounding former President Ronald Reagan’s intergalactic notions of American military power (as in his Strategic Defense Initiative or Star Wars plan).
Good luck Angela!
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James says
The Germans have their work cut of for them and your “ides of March” reference is brilliant because Merkel is surrounded by political sharks who are just waiting for the right moment to eat her up.