Comments on: Is Huckabee not the only preacher running for president?

By: Jane Stranz

Jane Stranz — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:07:24 +0000

The translator in me wants to know whether Huber as president would still talk about “profile-based” politics or whether unity becomes more important when you’re everyone’s Bundespresident. Could be quite interesting for ecumenism. I still feel that Oekumene der Profile is not ecumenism but would a Politik der Profile make for a more united Federal Germany … sorry this is rather esoteric!

By: Tom Heneghan

Tom Heneghan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:06:04 +0000

Good points, Stephen. This is a situation where some people might respond by saying “you’re not wrong” or “I don’t disagree,” but I don’t want to sound reluctant. I was writing pretty broadbush stuff in a quick post, just to make it clear for readers without any knowledge of the German situation. Having been chief correspondent in Germany for eight years (1989-1997), I try to fight my natural tendency to write at length about politics there — and may have oversimplified it. A longer piece on this would have brought out the Protestant vs Catholic elements in the CDU and mentioned positions where Huber is liberal and where he’s turned more conservative. We’d also have to look at the other names being mentioned. But that would be a different post, and probably a full wire story that our Berlin bureau could write if the Huber candidacy gets beyond the speculative stage. That will take a while, but we’ll be watching for it.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:49:36 +0000

Interesting report. It’s true the CDU may have been closer to the Catholic Church (though this shouldn’t be overstated, it’s not a Catholic party like the DC in Italy was), though what’s interesting is that Merkel comes from a Protestant background and in recent years there have been several high profile disagreements between Merkel’s administration and Catholic leaders (the expansion of creche and Kindergarten places for example). In recent years though Huber has been toning down the “trendy lefty” rhetoric and taking positions (on Islam and Muslims in Germany for example) that could fit very easily with CDU policies.