[Die
Zeit, Germany]
Die Zeit, Germany
The Sad Truth
Behind Germany's 'Obama Shortage'
"What's decisive is the
question of whether old European parties and political structures would ever
accept someone like Obama. The silly question, "Where is the German
Obama?" should actually read: "Does someone like Barak Obama have a
chance in one of our parties?"
By Werner A. Perger
Translated By James Jacobson
November 11, 2008
Germany
- Die Zeit - Original Article (Germany)
Europeans admire him. All the
German parties would like to have an Obama. But they won't get one - because
they are what they are.
Now everyone, or nearly
everyone, is relieved. Finally America is again something to admire. The horror
of the Bush-Cheney years is over. The citizens of the United States settled
this themselves in a classic act of democracy. And so the pathos of the
American Dream suddenly sounds much less of a falsehood as it has for the past
eight years. Barack Obama, the winner of the election, has changed the way people
view the United States, or perhaps it would be better to say, he adjusted it.
No wonder that in Old Europe,
Obama's electoral win was registered not only with relief but respect. One is
downright fascinated at the way this young senator came out of nowhere, saw and
conquered; how he transformed mistrust into confidence through a rhetorical
laying on of hands, got young people off of their sofas and in no time at all,
made them into campaign volunteers. And how week after week on the Internet, he
set new fundraising records by collecting small contributions. Obama is a true
fisher of men. It all seemed to happen just the way it was supposed to:
Everyone seemed to agree that we [Germans] need and want someone like him. But
where is he?
Or to put it more simply:
"Where is the German Obama?" Under this heading, which could have
been meant satirically, but wasn't, a somewhat older political scientist and
three relatively young politicians held a discussion on German radio this
Monday. The younger men were promptly asked whether Obama is their role model.
Eventually they spoke of the new Socialist candidate from the state of Hess and
how he has no chance against [Minister-President of Hesse] Roland Koch 
. Then the young Social Democrat in the group said
that two years ago, no one had ever heard of Barack Obama either. I suppose -
in doubt about the accused young politician! - that this was meant as a joke.
In any event, this episode shows the kind of peculiar reactions that this
collective Obama search has wrought.
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Italian
leader Silvio Berlusconi: He recently engaged in one of his favorite
hobbies - putting his foot in his mouth - when he said that Obama would
do well because he's 'handsome and tanned.'
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Because it has escaped no one
- not even the unfortunate Italian Silvio Berlusconi - that Barack Obama has a
dark skin color . Which brings the Obama question to the forefront:
When will there be the first Turkish Chancellor [of Germany]? Well, how about
something easier? The difficulties of Cem Ozdemir [a German politician of
Turkish descent ] to even get listed as a Green party leader in the
Bundestag [Parliament] demonstrates the difficulty from the
perspective of a "German Obama." However, the Dutch are a step ahead:
From the 1st of January there will be an "Obama-Plus" mayor of the
port city Rotterdam. The 47-year-old Ahmed Aboutaleb was born in Morocco and
immigrated to The Netherlands 15 years ago. He's a practicing Muslim, holds
duel citizenship, is a Social Democrat and, who knows, one day he could be the party's
nominee to lead the entire country.
But let's be serious: This is
absolutely not about whether a Turk/Arab and/or Muslim/Jew/Hindu can become a
chancellor of Germany or a prime minister of Holland, Denmark, Austria or
somewhere else in Europe. What's decisive is the question of whether old
European parties and political structures would ever accept someone like Obama.
The silly question, "Where is the German Obama?" should actually
read: "Does someone like Barak Obama have a chance in one of our
parties?"
"Good" and
"bad" obstacles would be a hindrance to even the most extraordinary
politician. The circus-like orchestration of a candidate's appearances, solemn
teleprompter-guided speeches, the spectacular mega-event atmosphere, all of
these have served Obama well. And he splendidly dominated his meetings in
Europe, particularly in Germany, but they weren’t greeted with the same
impartiality as they would have in America.
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Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef
Goebbels: His 1943 speech calling for 'total war' seems to have
contributed to German suspicions about great speech makers. And lest us
not forget Goebbels' boss, Adolph Hitler ...
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At least for those who are
sensitive to the past, even if they agree with the correctness of what is being
said, the historical reminder of the eternal cipher's speech at the Sport Palace
is hard to shake. [This was a speech delivered by the Nazi Propaganda Minister
Josef Goebbels at the Berlin Sportpalast on February 18, 1943, calling
for "total war," as the tide of World War II was turning against
Germany, see photo, right . The author calls Goebbels the 'eternal cipher']. Of
course it's also true in German politics, the content of speeches set decisions
in motion. It may also be that a weak presentation could bring about the end of
an orator, as was the case after a keynote address by former opposition leader
Helmut Kohl fell flat at
the Christian Democratic Party convention in Ludwigshafen in 1978.
On the other hand, a stronger
presence can trigger an earthquake, as Oskar Lafontaine's legendary party
populism at the Socialist Party Convention [SPD] in Mannheim in 1995 showed,
which led within 24 hours to the overthrow of the party's hapless and
unglamorous speaker, Rudolph Scharping . Overall, however, in the long run other elements and
talents play a greater role. Kohl understood and reacted to the Ludwigshafen
crisis, and many other crisis later - and survived to enjoy a long reign [He
was chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998]. Lafontaine contributed much to
the SPD's election victory in 1998, but he disappeared a few months later,
failed miserably actually, because of the party's democratic structures, which
are designed to block Bonapartist ambitions [in other words, the party
structures block people who are too ambitious - a reference to French Emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte].
However, the
structural hurdles for exceptionally charismatic figures like Obama have their
dark side: The iron, ritualistic procedures of the traditional parties act as a
deterrent. They stop those with initiative and propagate people who are the
first to overcome the inhibitions of the party they have joined. Young people
today are more active in civic organizations than parties. Fear of commitment and being responsible for the odds and sods, as obligatory and essential in parties as they are in sports organizations, will no doubt play a part in this as will. But that’s not the whole story.
The established parties don’t have anything attractive to offer the creative political talent. That’s why first and foremost, they tend to be left with the less exciting candidates: future career politicians, whose short biographies will in retrospect reveal that they haven’t learned anything other than how to survive the day-to-day life of a party beauracracy. The better they do this, the steeper the progress of their career. This is no environment to forster a "German Obama."
CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN
VERSION
[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
November 18, 7:05pm]
