The impact of the Hurricane Katrina crisis is so great that it is even having an impact on German politics as the campaign enters its final phase. In a speech delivered on Tuesday, Chancellor Schröder spoke at length about the crisis in the United States. After mentioning the aid and support that he had promised President Bush, Schröder then used the occasion to make some thinly-veiled attacks on the neo-liberal agenda of his opponent:
Wenn man sich einmal anschaut, was dort in den letzten Tagen schief gelaufen ist – das ist jetzt keine vordergründige Kritik; der Präsident selber hat das festgestellt; er hat selber deutlich gemacht, dass das, was es in den ersten Tagen an Hilfe gegeben hat, wie er es genannt hat, inakzeptabel gewesen sei -, dann müssen wir miteinander darüber nachdenken, was von Forderungen zu halten ist, die bei uns im Land erhoben werden, Leistungen des Staates zu privatisieren, was also die Entstaatlichung, der immer wieder das Wort geredet wird, wirklich bedeutet.
Man sollte in einer solchen Situation sicher nicht übermütig, arrogant oder selbstgefällig sein. Dazu haben wir Deutschen überhaupt keinen Anlass. Aber es ist schon ganz interessant darauf hinweisen zu können, dass es trotz aller Kritik an Bürokratie, die sein muss und die wir ja miteinander auch führen, funktionierende Strukturen im Staatsaufbau gibt, die erlauben, Hilfeleistungen schneller und direkter zu machen.
Schröder’s criticism of the smaller-government movement by the CDU/FDP opposition was particularly effective after it was established that Angela Merkel had stolen her script in her debate on Sunday from none other than Ronald Reagan. Needless to say, Ronald Reagan is not terribly popular in Germany these days. Still, Schröder’s attack is slightly disingenuous when one considers that it was his party – together with his coalition partner the Green Party – that put Germany on a neo-liberal path with his Agenda 2010 and the Hartz IV reforms that dismantle the worker protections and benefits that have been an integral part of Germany’s social market economy.
Petra Pau of the Linkspartei took Schröder and the SPD to task for their "reform" program in a speech yesterday.
Sie haben Steuerreformen beschlossen, immer mit demselben Ergebnis: Der Sozialstaat wurde geschwächt. Und viele Kommunen, selbst Großstädte wie München, sind de facto Pleite. Sie fallen als Investoren aus und sie sind kaum noch in der Lage, die soziale und kulturelle Infrastruktur zu sichern. Allein die letzte Steuerreform kostete meine Heimatstadt, das Land Berlin, eine Mrd. Euro Einnahmen jährlich. Das ist drei Mal so viel, wie die Berliner Steuerzahler für den unsäglichen Bankenskandal aufwenden müssen, der maßgeblich durch die CDU verursacht wurde.
And the left-wing partner in the Linkspartei – the WASG – has a blistering critique of the US response to Hurricane Katrina on its Web site and sees this as Germany’s future, if it follows the neo-liberal path proposed by SPD/CDU/CSU/FDP:
Wir wissen auch, dass die neoliberale Verwandlung insbesondere des städtischen Lebens, die Verrohung der Zivilisation, der soziale Auslesekampf und die Polarisierung von Arm und Reich, von Besitzenden und Besitzlosen sich immer mehr dem US-amerikanischen Vorbild anpasst.
Meanwhile Angela Merkel and CDU have avoided mentioning Katrina, since they do not want to draw attention to Merkel’s support in the past for Bush’s Iraq War and to her stated intention to move Germany closer to the Bush administration in the future – perhaps the least popular aspect of her program just now. But someone forgot to send the memo to the CDU social services minister in Baden-Wurtemburg, Andreas Renner, who – after reading the reports of the suffering in New Orleans – said of President Bush: "Der gehört abgeschossen."(He deserves to be shot). He was later apologetic and the SPD was quick to demand his resignation, but Renner is probably the most popular politician in Germany tonight, and, if anything, his not-politically-correct comment probably won some votes for the CDU.
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A comment on the translation: “abgeschossen” is not typically used to refer to killing somebody in a real sense. In a political or business context it means to throw somebody out of office.
Another point:
I just wonder what all the American and pro-American friends of Angela Merkel thought seeing her in the TV News yesterday, chatting amiably with Putin in Russian, a language which she knows from her East German days.
Certainly Angie’s ability to speak with Putin in his native Russian is a plus – and this is something she share’s with Condi Rice.
I agree with David. The fact that Merkel speaks Russian is an advantage in every sense. Bush speaks amiably with Putin too (certainly not in Russian, as many would say the he barely speaks english 🙂 ). Germany has some very difficult decisions to make on September 18th. The fact that the polls are tightening makes me very nervous that the electorate in Germany doesn’t realize the level of the current “malaise.”