It's Getting Heated in Germany

Only relatively--a torchlight parade of 500,000 in Munich would be truly "heated" in the German context. This is about the national elections, ten days off. Now Schroeder's (fourth) wife is getting in on the already-rampant Merkel-bashing. The SPD appears to have closed the gap with Merkel's CDU by three percentage points (the gap is now eight). The closer the gap becomes, the more likely it will be that a Grand Coalition of the SPD and CDU is in Germany's future, a development that might to more harm than good, since it will make any significant and immediate economic and social reforms that much more difficult to agree upon, much less pass. Some have even suggested that a CDU-Green coalition may be a possibility, which would be by far the strangest outcome imaginable (not to mention a constant source of interesting news and sheer hilarity over the next few years).

Just for the record, the attacks on Merkel are simply pathetic, and reveal much more about the fear of the SPD and their supporters than they would like to admit. Merkel must scare the hell out of the German Left--an East German Christian Conservative, an independent, childless, successful woman who rejects the idea that the state can fix and should control everything, yet who appeals (in varying degrees) to a broad cross-section of Western and Eastern Germans, regardless of their age. Notice at the end of the article that Frau Schroeder-Koepf's comments about Merkel have forced the leading Leftist feminist magazine in Germany to object.

However, what remains to be seen is if the SPD's dual tactics of smearing Merkel and ratcheting up the anti-Americanism will convince the German electorate to keep them in power. I am hoping and betting that it will not work. However, though I appreciate and admire Merkel's refusal to descend to such a level, a part of me wishes she would fight back a bit.

I also know that if the CDU wins, I am really going to enjoy eavesdropping on conversations at the German Studies Conference in Milwaukee at the end of September. If Merkel wins, will disillusioned Germans go to Canada?

Update:Merkel has fired back. I'd take credit for it, but this happened while I was still sleeping last night. And, she did so by sticking to the issues Germans care about. Take that, Frau Schroeder-Koepf.