Global News Journal

Little help from celebs for Germany’s undecided voters

Nobel prize-winning writer Guenter Grass is dressed in a mustard-brown cord suit and reading his work to a reverent audience in a hushed Berlin night club.

It feels more like a book launch than a political campaign event just days before the German election. Yet as far as celebrity endorsements for German political parties go, this is as big as it gets.

The Social Democrats (SPD) have boasted Grass, author of “The Tin Drum”, among their most famous  and vocal supporters for 40 years. Party leaders have come and gone, but 81-year-old Grass is reassuringly familiar — and strangely ageless as he reads in an expressive, animated voice.

The mood is convivial. Hardly what is required to provide the much-needed shot in the arm for the SPD, who lag Chancellor Angel Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the polls.

Political endorsements by Germany’s stars of stage and screen have always been earnest and low-key, in sharp contrast to the glamour Hollywood celebrities or chart-topping musicians hope to inject in U.S. elections.

But this time around, in an election campaign lacking dynamism and momentum from all sides, even the endorsements sound particularly flat, as the testaments on campaign websites for the two leading candidates show.

“When I see him and hear him speak, I see a man who is very clear,” explains Katharina Saalfrank, a television presenter famous for reforming naughty children in the show “Super Nanny”, on a website supporting Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD Chancellor candidate.

Merkel smiles through pre-election jitters

Pressure? What Pressure?

That was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s message during a 90-minute grilling in Berlin by journalists at her last major news conference before the Sept. 27 election. Even though opinion polls show a narrowing in her re-election campaign and amid a growing nervousness in her conservative party, Merkel was a picture of tranquillity.

Although some of her conservative party allies are pushing for her to raise the volume and intensity of what has been an exceedingly cautious campaign, Merkel made it abundantly clear that she is not at all worried. Perhaps it was all a good bit of acting. But she answered even the most surly of questions from the pack of 100 journalists with a nationwide TV audience watching with smiles and jokes along with the usual assortment of evasive answers.

Like she has so often in the last four years, Merkel managed to find a shimmer of optimism in just about every query hurled her way. She turned each question about opinion polls showing the lead of her preferred centre-right alliance narrowing upside down by pointing out the centre-right still has a lead.

“The opinion polls are quite encouraging for us,” Merkel said even though the centre-right’s lead over a trio of left-leaning parties has shrunk to just two points in two polls and disappeared into a dead heat in a third. Two weeks ago, the centre-right had a six- to eight-point lead in those same polls over the Social Democrats, Greens and Left party. Four years ago, Merkel’s centre-right alliance also had a big lead before the election that evaporated on election day. The conservatives are particularly nervous after having seen their support plunge in the final days of the last two campaigns in 2002 and 2005.

Merkel also skated over questions about her shaky performance in a TV debate on Sunday against her rival Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her decision to go on a long summer vacation last month rather than campaign and her trip to Pittsburgh late next week just before the vote to attend a G20 summit.

“I treated myself to a two-week holiday because I felt it was appropriate and important – so that I could be happy and available right up to the end of the election campaign,” she said at one point. “I actually was quite satisfied with my performance in the TV debate,” Merkel said, disagreeing with the view of even many in her party that Steinmeier got the upper hand because she took such a cautious approach.

Less content, more Merkel in campaign posters

With two weeks to go before Germany holds an election, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have unveiled a new set of election posters, depicting Merkel, Merkel, and more Merkel.

Rather than campaigning on the issues highlighted in their election programmes, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) are keeping it simple and hoping to capitalise instead on the popularity of their leader, Germany’s first female chancellor.

“The key question is whether Angela Merkel, who has intelligently guided Germany throughout the crisis, should continue to govern,” said Ronald Pofalla, general secretary of the CDU, at a press conference in Berlin.

“With the new posters, we want to make clear to people that they will only get Merkel again as a chancellor if they vote for the CDU.”

The posters show only Merkel, smiling benevolently against a minimalist black background, and feature slogans like: “We vote for the Chancellor” or “We vote for confidence”.

The latest posters are emblematic of the conservatives’ general campaign, which has focused less on hard-hitting issues such as tax cuts and atomic energy than on popular personalities like Merkel and the Economy Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg.

On previous posters, Guttenberg and other well-known conservative politicians were shown against a blurry background, alongside vague slogans such as “economy with reason”, “strong families” and “good education”.

German election TV debate: Live 2

10:20 p.m. - My colleagues Dave Graham and Sarah Marsh have been busily keeping track of the debate highlights. Here is their report.

9:58 p.m.- Merkel has also obviously rehearsed her closing speech-let. She gets all those terms in that conservatives want to hear: family, children, parents, grandparents, education and “ensuring jobs.” After a rousing debate, Merkel is back in her “feel-good” campaign-speech mode now: vague. “Together we can accomplish a lot,” she says.

9:55 p.m. – Closing statements: Steinmeier up first and he’s clearly been practicing his little speech. He gets all his buzz words in again about minimum wage, healthcare for everyone, social balance, shutting down nuclear power and expresses his worry about a growing “gap between rich and poor.”

9:45 p.m. They’re getting a bit testy with each about tax cut plans by the conservatives if they get in power with the pro-business Free Democrats. Steinmeier wants to know how, in the face of all the government stimulus spending going on, are they going to pay for that? Merkel responds with growth. “Growth creates jobs,” she said. But Steinmeier has done his homework and shoots back: “How can you finance that out of growth? You’d need to have an annual growth rate of 9 percent to afford that. We’ve never had that much growth.” Merkel insists tax cuts are do-able. “I don’t want to confuse the viewers here with numbers,” she says.

German election TV debate: Live

8:50 p.m. - Steinmeier and Merkel don’t use the informal “du” with ach other, the world has just learned. It might sound like a trivial question but I bet a lot of people will remember Steinmeier’s answer to that unusual question: “We don’t use ‘du’ — that’s not something that I consider necessary in politics,” Steinmeier says.

Are seniors shafting younger German voters?

Are young German voters getting the short end of the stick because the country’s political leaders fall over themselves to placate senior citizens?

Or is it simply a case of democracy pure when politicians listen attentively to what seniors demand because they are the group that votes more faithfully than any other age group?

What the election campaign says about Germans

Strikingly different election campaign styles in Germany and Britain, especially parties’ contrasting use of the media, provide some intriguing insights into the political traditions of the two nations.

in Britain, the parties hold daily news conferences, broadcast live, where leaders attempt to set an agenda for the day — be it on health, tax or education — and then get grilled by the press corps.

In Germany there is no equivalent. In fact, there are not even regular weekly news conferences with conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat (SPD) rival Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

Instead, they seek direct contact with voters by holding speeches in town squares and, especially in the southern state of Bavaria, beer tents.

The challengers are not interested in playing to the media because the election does not dominate the German headlines as much as it does in Britain.

One reason for the particularly strong contrast this year is the duo fighting the German election. Merkel and Steinmeier are shying away from personal attacks as they know they may have to share power again after the Sept. 27 vote.

And few dispute that either challenger competes with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair or opposition leader David Cameron – let alone U.S. President Barack Obama — on charisma.

‘Dinnergate’ perks up German campaign

The German election campaign has so far lacked the riveting debates and explosive issues to which voters were treated in previous battles for power, perhaps because Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rival, Vice-Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier, have worked together in the same “grand coalition” government for the past four years and neither party seems especially eager to rock the boat.

Filling the void have been several somewhat bizarre little scandals that each side has tried to use to tarnish the other, taking pot shots without resorting to full firepower. They are, after all, partners in power.

First there was Ulla Schmidt, the Social Democratic health minister whose questionable use of her official car on holiday in Spain came to light only after the car was stolen. Merkel’s Christian Democrats and opposition parties have done all they can to turn the “Dienstwagenaffaere” into a campaign issue — an example of a minister out of touch with voters for taking full advantage of government privileges — even though Schmidt insists she has done nothing wrong.

Now Merkel, the CDU chancellor, is facing criticism from the SPD and opposition parties for throwing a controversial dinner party at the chancellery (at the taxpayers’ expense) last year for Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann to mark his 60th birthday. “She told me at the time she would like to do something for me,” Ackermann told German TV in a profile of Merkel last week. “She said I should invite 30 or friends I’d like to spend an evening with to the chancellery.”

Merkel defended the meeting, saying she is always trying to bring different groups of people together at dinners.

And also in the spotlight is Economy Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, the rising young star of the Bavarian Christian Social Union, for using external advisers to draft complex financial legislation.

A parliamentary budget committee has started an investigation into whether any government rules were violated. Germany’s best-selling daily Bild has already reached its verdict: “It’s all nonsense,” wrote Einar Koch in a column on Wednesday. “The petty dispute about the dinner in the chancellery shows how devoid of content the 2009 election really is. If the chancellor of Europe’s leading economic power cannot invite 25 important industry and cultural leaders to a dinner in the chancellery, then it’s ‘good night’ for Germany”. His paper’s editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann and its publisher Mathias Doepfner were among those at the Ackermann party. So is it misuse of taxpayer money for the chancellor to throw a birthday party at her office for one of the most powerful bankers in the country? Or is it simply a smart thing to do, getting industry, political and cultural leaders together for some high-powered elbow rubbing?

Stolen limo a nightmare for Merkel challenger Steinmeier

Having your car worth 93,000 euros ($132,000) stolen while you’re on holiday in Spain is bad enough.

But if you’re a German government minister whose party is already facing an uphill battle just two months before a federal election, it’s even worse.

All that misfortune can turn into a veritable nightmare when the German electorate only learns about your private use of the luxury government car on holiday as an unintentional consequence of the theft.

With a dearth of news during the summer doldrums, German media have pounced upon the revelation that Health Minister Ulla Schmidt’s Mercedes was stolen in Spain last week. They’re asking why on earth did the Social Democrat (SPD) minister need her armoured limo and its chauffeur in the Spanish resort – click for story here. The chauffeur drove the car 2,300 km from Berlin to Alicante while Schmidt flew there.

German government rules allow ministers to use their official cars privately but they are obliged to pay for the private use. Schmidt’s spokeswoman said she needed the limo in Spain because she has two business appointments there during her two-week holiday. Schmidt was tracked down by German television on Monday evening in Spain: “I use the official car at times on holiday and pay for that. I keep track of every private journey in a logbook,” Schmidt said. “I’ve been doing that for the last 8-1/2 years and there was never any fuss about it.”

So why all the fuss now?

Schmidt’s misfortune is really bad news for Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the SPD’s candidate for chancellor in the Sept. 27 federal election. His SPD is already trailing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives by more than 10 percentage points. Steinmeier returns to work from his own holiday in the Italian Alps on Wednesday and was hoping to jump-start his struggling campaign.

Arrivederci Angela! Merkel stops campaign for summer holiday

Just imagine the outcry if Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain had suddenly gone off on their own separate two-week vacations to, say, Mexico, just two months before the November election? Irresponsible! Reckless! Shirkers! Those and as well as other unprintable terms might be among the comments hurled their way.

Yet as unfathomable as it may be for candidates in the United States or many other countries to take a long holiday break so close to an election, in Germany it is just as inconceivable for politicians to continue to campaign actively during the summer holiday season — even if the election is just around the corner. Begging for votes while their countrymen are relaxing on the beach is simply verboten for Germans.

That is why Chancellor Angela Merkel will be disappearing on holiday to a secretive location for the next 2-1/2 weeks while her challenger, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has already left the country, spending several weeks away from the campaign trail on holiday in the Italian Alps. Campaigning during the summer holiday would only be counter-productive, political strategists and analysts say, even if the outcome of the Sept. 27 election is wide open.

Germans do indeed take their holidays seriously — just think of the cliche about all those Germans rising before dawn in Mediterranean holiday resorts to reserve the deck chairs by the pool with their towels. Many Germans only laugh at you when you ask what happened to the “German work ethic”? There is even a federal law, the Bundesurlaubsgesetz, that governs every imagineable aspect of leave eligibility and duration. Most Germans get at least six weeks leave each year, which is one of the reasons they they sometimes call themselves Weltmeister (world champions) when it comes to travel — 64 percent take their holidays abroad each year.

Over the years I’ve watched some candidates, such as Helmut Kohl, try to beat the conventional wisdom of “Thou Shalt Not Campaign During Holidays in Germany”. In 1998 Kohl was far behind his challenger Gerhard Schroeder. Seemingly out of desperation, Kohl held some low-key campaign rallies on Baltic beaches. The sight of Kohl in a suit and tie giving a stump speech to holidaymakers sporting bikinis and speedos is something that I’ll never forget, and  interrupting peoples’ vacations didn’t help Kohl any – he lost the election two months later.

However, while Merkel and Steinmeier will be out of the country, they will certainly not be out of touch. Both will give a few relaxed-sounding interviews from their holiday cottages to selected German networks, as well as leading newspapers and magazines. Both will also make sure there are enough photo ops of relaxed-looking political leaders on holiday, although Merkel will be careful to avoid another photo op mishap like in 2006 when the British tabloid the Sun published paparazzi pictures of Merkel changing into her swimsuit in Italy.

PHOTO – Angela Merkeland her husband Joachim Sauer arrive for the Wagner opera festival in the northern Bavarian town of Bayreuth during her holiday in this July 25, 2005 file photo.