Schröder’s Putsch against Reality
September 26, 2005
Nothing like having a grandson living in Berlin to whet one’s interest in international politics. My ignorant interest (to most Americans, Government by coalition is a mystery) led me to this article in SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Political Roulette in Berlin: Schröder’s Putsch against Reality
[Schröder] has staged the first putsch in German post-war history, a putsch against reality. On the evening of the election, he announced that he had no intention of allowing Angela Merkel to take the helm of a possible grand coalition between his own party and the CDU.
… Suddenly the German political stage has turned into a Las Vegas casino, where everyone furiously plays poker by day and watches Siegfried and Roy, the illusionists, put on their act by night. But in Berlin the illusionists’ names are Gerhard Schröder and Franz Müntefering, who, it turns out, have shown themselves adept at transforming mice into elephants, poodles into tigers.
A political circus it certainly is, reminiscent of our own election in 2000; Gore vs. Bush.
Before I get too cynical about the political process in free nations, I remind myself that it sure beats most other systems. Let the show go on!
Dave, trying to be a disinterested observer.
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