Angie and her President: Christian Wulff on his way out?

'Shoe' protesters urge German president to quit Euronews 01/07/2012



I'm hesitant to speculate about what backdoor maneuvers may be involved in German President Christian Wulff's current troubles. But, being a political junkie, it's hard not to do so.

I doubt that Princess Angie von Merkel wanted a scandal over the President to distract from her effect to bring the eurozone to heel under her Ordnungsökonomik austerity policies in the middle of this depression.

And Wulff was her boy, handpicked to succeed her previous pick, Horst Köhler, who had to resign the Presidency in 2010 because he was too frank in public about the motivations of Angie's support for NATO operations, saying on a trip to Afghanistan:

A country of our size, with its focus on exports and thus reliance on foreign trade, must be aware that ... military deployments are necessary in an emergency to protect our interests -- for example when it comes to trade routes, for example when it comes to preventing regional instabilities that could negatively influence our trade, jobs and incomes.

As Spiegel International explained, "It sounded as though Köhler was justifying wars for the sake of economic interests, in the context of the Afghan mission which is highly controversial in Germany and throughout Europe." (Controversy Over Afghanistan Remarks: German President Horst Köhler Resigns 05/31/2010)

One of Angie's marked characteristics as a political leader has been her lack of sentimental hesitation in cutting loose a political ally or mentor as soon as it becomes uncomfortable for her. Not that her support of Wulff for the Presidency was entirely a matter of loyalty. Wulff could have been a competitor for leadership in the CDU and getting him into Bellevue Palace (the Presidential residence) took him out of that potentially threatening position.

As the controversy over President Wulff's cozy relationship with generous one-percenters and his lack of self-restraint in bullying the press not to publish about it, Angie's probably getting ready to dump him: Demonstration gegen Wulff.Schuhprotest vor dem Schloss Spiegel Online 07.01.2012.

It's also the case that her coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), is falling so low in the polls that their continued existence as a party may be in question. They hit as low as 2% in one poll this past week, with 5% being the minimum hurdle for having seats in the Bundestag (lower House of Parliament). Even the Christian Social Union (CSU) - which tends to act on the national stage as the Bavarian branch of Angie's Christian Social Union (CSU) but which is actually a separate party - is worrying about their strength in Bavaria.

The next Parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2013, and Angie needs to look for alternative governing partners to the FDP. During her first years as Chancellor (2005-9), Angie had a Grand Coalition, with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) as the junior partner. This is basically what she would have to have again if the FDP fails to win parliamentary seats in 2013. But she would likely prefer to have a Grand Coalition again to strengthen her hand in anti-social measures like raising the retirement age to 67, which was passed in her first Grand Coalition but with a provision that it be reviewed. (CSU chief Horst Seehofer was griping about that retirement age change this past week.)

A new campaign for President could be the basis for forming a new Grand Coalition with the SPD. It would be yet another terrible surrender to the neoliberal orthodoxy of austerity economics for the SPD to play ball with Angie on this. But if they were deep enough in it to agree to the increase of the retirement age to 67, it's entirely conceivable that they would sign on again to enact Angie's destructive austerity vision for Germany and the EU.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports (Affäre des Bundespräsidenten.Planspiele für Wulffs Rücktritt 07.01.2012) reports from FDP sources that Angie is discussing possible successors to Wulff, which doesn't in itself mean that she's intending to dump him.

A Left Party spokesman, Wolfgang Neskovic, suggested impeachment proceedings against Wulff. The SPD is also making public pressure against him, not failing to remind people that Wulff is Angie's boy. But surprisingly, Ralf Fücks, head of the Green Party's Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Institute), has a weird commentary on Wulff in Zum Interview von Christian Wulff.Kleinstes Karo statt großes Kino Süddeutsche Zeitung 05.01.2012 that makes him anything but a part of the shoe-waving crowd calling for Wulff's dismissal. He gives the impression he thinks the controversy is silly. I really don't get that.

The Green Party Chair, Claudia Roth, on the other hand, calls for Wulff's resignation, although in diplomatic language that technically (but only barely) calls short of explicitly saying he should resign, as reported by J. Gaugele und M. Kamann, Bundespräsident unter Druck.Grünen-Chefin Roth wirft Wulff Weinerlichkeit vor Welt am Sonntag 08.01.2012. In that same interview, though, Roth supports keeping the retirement age at 67, putting the Green Party to the right of Seehofer on that issue at the moment! If the left parties in Germany are acting this dingy, no wonder Angie is getting away with wrecking the euro and the EU with her one-percenter austerity policies.

Der Spiegel suggests that two members of Angie's party, Former Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer und Bundestag President Norbert Lammert (CDU), are high on the list of possible alternatives. Töpfer was one of her top candidates for President in the 2004 election in which the CDU/CSU eventually agreed to back Köhler. She was his deputy when he was the national Environment Minister and succeeded him in that post. Lammert is also a long-time inner party ally of Angie's.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is also a prominent possibility. But even though Angie appointed him to her Cabinet, she also stuck a serious political shiv in his back in 1999 around a CDU financial scandal. She wouldn't trust him in the Presidential position, and he'd be an awful pick anyway. Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière and Labor and Social Affairs Minister Ursula von der Leyen, both longtime Merkel cronies, would be other options.

Joachim Gauck is also a likely candidate because of his highly respected status in public opinion (Ulrike Dimitz reports on an recent interview with him in "Anpacken statt Angst haben.Gauck fordert die Bürger" Nordkurier 06.01.2012) SPD head and presumptive Chancellor candidate for 2013 Sigmar Gabriel is suggesting a "Grand Coalition" agreement with the CDU on a new President, and Gauck would presumably be the leading option for such a pick. (Nachfolgesuche für Wulff.Gabriel bietet Kanzlerin Merkel Kooperation an FAZ 08.01.2012) But he was the candidate backed by the SPD and the Greens in 2010, so Angie may be unwilling to accept him this time around. In response to a direct question about Gauck as a successor to Wulff in case Wulff resigns, the Greens' Claudia Roth obliquely endorses the idea. See Kate Connolly, Joachim Gauck: the dissident hero who holds the destiny of Germany in his hands The Observer 06/19/2010 for more on Gauck's history.

Tags: angela merkel, christian wulff

German President Christian Wullf's speech

German President Christian Wullf's speech did an interview today with reporters from the German TV networks ARD and ZDF. He denies any consideration of resigning over the scandal in which he's involved having to do with shady favors done for him by wealthy businesspeople and by his own threatening phone calls to journalists when he was trying to suppress the story.

It wasn't a very impressive self-defense. He apologized for the way he acted with the journalists, but tried to soft pedal that by claiming he was only trying to delay the report, not get them to suppress it. And he doesn't admit to any kind of bad judgment, much less wrongdoing, in the favors he took, particularly a house loan that he had failed to disclose properly when he was Governor of Lower Saxony. He did say he shouldn't have disclosed it.

Tom Strohschneider in Bundespräsident: Am Ende der Schonfrist Der Freitag 03.01.2012 does suggest one potential advantage for Chancellor Angela Merkel if Wulff resigns, another Presidential election - which takes place in Germany's version of the US Electoral College, not by direct election - could allow her to position her CDU party for another Grand Coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Presidential elections are decided by party coalitions, and the party coalition formed to elect the President (chief of state) are often then carried over into the formation of a governing coalition after the Parliamentary elections, in this case scheduled in 2013.

Angie actually preferred her first governing coalition, a Grand Coalition with the SPD with Angie as Chancellor, to her current one with the (European-style) liberal Free Democrats (FDP). The FDP has traditionally been the German party most subservient to business lobbyists. But Angie has been so much that way herself, that the FDP is now polling in the 2-3% range nationally. If the party can't get a 5% nationwide vote in 2013, they won't get seats in the Bundestag (lower house of Parliament) and so can't participate in forming a government.

Between the FDP's declining popularity and their concerns about Angie's reckless course in the EU, they make a pretty unstable coalition partner. It says a lot about the SPD that Angie might see them as a better partner for her increasingly anti-democratic and narrowly business-focused approach EU than the proudly pro-business FDP. And what it says about the SPD is not good.

Strohschneider notes that Angie is already acting as the de facto foreign minister. The actual Foreign Minister is the FDP's Guido Westerwelle. It's probably just as well. When you're replacing governments and bullying all the other EU countries, having a Foreign Minister named "Guido" delivering your dictates probably isn't optimal PR.

Tags: angela merkel, christian wulff

German President: twisting slowly, slowly in the wind

Embattled German President Christian Wulff was Angie's handpicked candidate for the Presidency in 2010. That was after her previous handpicked candidate for the Presidency resigned after being a little too blunt in public about the commercial advantages of taking part in NATO military expeditions.

Now that the current President is in a scandal over loans and other favors from wealthy businesspeople, as well as heavyhanded bullying of journalists in attempts to suppress the story, Angie is letting the guy twist slowly, slowly in the wind, as I recall one of Nixon's people saying of Vice President Spiro Agnew back in the day. (Robin Alexander, Schweigen in der Union: Bundespräsident Wulff hat nur noch Pflichtverteidiger Die Welt 03.01.2012)

I'm as big a fan of political intrigue as anyone, I guess. But sometimes journalists actually do their jobs and dig up stuff. It's hard for me to see any particular advantage Angie gets from having two Federal Presidents in a row with whom she heavily identified herself having to resign from office. The President is the head of state in Germany; Angie as Chancellor is the head of government.

I also don't see that this has any direct relation to the euro crisis. But Wulff being dramatically shown to be happily in the pockets of the one-percenters can't be encouragement to the EU-minus-one countries to accept Angie's demand that they commit themselves by treaty in March to giving the EU (read: Germany) veto power over their national budgets.

Tags: angela merkel, christian wulff

German President Wulff dirty, Chancellor Merkel squeaky clean?

Not that I'm suspicious of Angie or anything. But even with Karl Rove thousands of miles away from German politics, this just looks too good to be true for German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Nico Fried, Kanzlerin Merkel und die Wirtschaft.Erst denken, dann handeln (Chancellor Merkel and Business: First think, then deal) Süddeutsche Zeitung 20.12.2011.

Just after Angie's latest disastrous EU summit that failed to solve the eurozone debt crisis, news broke that German President Christian Wulff had concealed hundreds of thousands of euros in private loans that he had been required to report. In Germany, the President is the head of state, the Chancellor the head of government. Spiegel International explains and offers some English translations of German press commentary on the scandal in 'President Wulff Lied' 12/19/2011:

In Germany, the office of the federal president serves as a sort of moral compass for the nation. Largely symbolic in nature, the president gives a televised prime time speech on Christmas day offering guidance to Germans on the political and moral issues of the day.

Allegations that the president made misleading statements about accepting a sizeable loan from an individual businessman and friend at a favorable interest rate are not becoming to his elevated position. Thus, one week into his personal loan affair, pressure continues to mount on Christian Wulff.

The president is under fire for not disclosing the 2008 loan when asked by the Lower Saxony state parliament if he had any business ties with friend and millionaire entrepreneur Egon Geerkens. Wulff said he had none. But last week it emerged that Wulff and his new wife at the time had accepted a private loan for some €500,000 from Egon's wife Edith. For months, Wulff had fought attempts by journalists to obtain information pertaining to his 2008 purchase of a home near Hanover.

Gosh, it's just a €500,000 loan (appox. $850,000) from a businessman - excuse me, the businessman's wife - who I'm sure happened to be good buddies with ole Christian. A loan that Wullf tried to conceal. I'm sure there weren't any quid pro quos involved!

Shoot, those Occupy people would probably think this was some kind of cynical one-percenter arrangement. But who listens to those people? And heck, who hasn't borrowed a few hundred thousand dollars on the sly from one of their friends to buy a house? People do it all the time!

Wullf comes from Angie's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Just last year, the previous President, Horst Köhler, resigned, the first President in the history of the Federal Republic to do so. His sin was to blurt out too bluntly that he supported Germany's participation in the NATO war in Afghanistan because he thought it was good for German business. So Angie muscled him out. (The Spiegel piece linked above delicately says he resigned "following widespread critique over comments he made suggesting the German military should pursue German economic goals abroad".)

Wulff was the candidate of Merkel's center-right coalition in the 2010 election for Köhler's replacement.

It's doesn't strike me as convenient for Angie at such a time to have her party's President under fire, especially for something so crassly corrupt (whatever the technical legalities may be), especially since she's in the process of destroying the euro, wrecking the European Union and impoverishing millions of Europeans with her austerity economics.

But the Süddeutsche Zeitung piece above made me wonder about other angles. It's a puff piece about how scrupulous and moral Angie is dealing with businesspeople, the soul of rectitude even. Why, she never goes on vacation with rich businesspeople the way her President has been doing. And if there's any hint of secret loans or similar shady deals with Angie, you wouldn't know it from Nico Fried's article. On the contrary, she's so little cozy with the one-percenters she's wrecking the EU to serve, she's practically a hermit!

Yes, the American media disease seems to be spreading to Germany, unfortunately. This story reeks of being a puff piece to secure the Access that is so precious for American reporters who write fawning stories about high officials. But to show he's a tough-minded journalist, Fried does allow that a wealthy publisher with whom Angie was friendly gave her some cookies in public! On the whole, Fried gives us to believe, she'd much rather be hanging out with union types than with one-percenters.

This kind of suck-up article is standard fare for the American press. But it's kind of sad to see it in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Since this reads like a the Chancellor's office typed it up for him, I'm going to guess this represents Angie's preferred spin. Unlike that President feller with such bad judgment, she's so squeaky clean it hurts. Fried actually says that Angie is "painfully exact" to spend as much time with journalists as she does with business lobbyists leaders. What, she gets her marching orders from the financial lobby and then goes to her favorite suck-up "journalists" and tells them what to write?

We can't harsh on Angie too much for trying to put distance between herself and a guy who looks like he may be the second German President to resign in the middle of his term. Politics is politics, as Joe Stalin said on a famous occasion (when he was about to conclude the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939). And as another of Angie's fanboys, Michael Lümann, writes with a rather sickening level of admiration, Angie is fast to dump even her closest allies when they become inconvenient for her.

But for an American used to watching for Karl Rove-type schemes, it could look just a little too convenient that the President has a scandal break at a time when Angie could use a little diversion from press attention on her. Of course, if she gets the kind of fawning fanboy attention Nico Fried provides in that article, she doesn't need any distractions.

And a jaded American might also think that it might enhance Angie's internal profile if another President, the office that is supposed to serve "as a sort of moral compass for the nation", were to have to step down for shady behavior. Especially if Angie's squeaky-clean scruples allow her to provide a more respectable "moral compass". Plus, it's unlikely that Wulff's shady relationships to generous one-percenters came as a complete surprise to CDU insiders. I'm just saying.

But having said all that, it's actually believable to me that Angie is too fastidious and careful to cozy up to business cronies in such a compromising way. I have the impression that Angie is attracted to rigid rules and that she is exceptionally careful to minimize risks to herself. She grew up in Communist East Germany until the Berlin Wall came down when she was 35. Being careful about exposing yourself to blackmail or discrediting revelations was something that she learned from childhood.

Tags: angela merkel, christian wulff, german politics