The World From Berlin
標題:Will Merkel Mutate From 'Mom' to 'Iron Lady'?
新聞來源: (須有正確連結)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,651700,00.html
After Sunday's election victory, Angela Merkel finally has the center-right
coalition she always said she needed to reform Germany. Media commentators
say she now needs to get tough and adopt a clearer conservative stance,
something that could erode her status as "mom" of the nation.
Chancellor Angela Merkel won a second term in Sunday's federal election and
will be able to form a coalition with her preferred partner, the pro-business
Free Democrats, putting an end to her "grand coalition" with the center-left
Social Democrats, with whom she has ruled since 2005.
Support for her conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and
its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), slipped compared
to 2005 by 1.4 percent to 33.8 percent, according to preliminary official
results. However, a 4.8 point jump for the FDP to 14.6 percent will suffice
to give her a comfortable center-right majority.
The Social Democrats of challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier slumped 11.2
points to 23 percent, the worst result for the party in the 60-year history
of the Federal Republic of Germany. The SPD will now go into opposition after
11 years in government.
Merkel's conservatives will hold talks with the FDP in the coming weeks to
arrive at a program of tax cuts and business reforms.
Media commentators say that, despite the election victory, Merkel's CDU and
the CSU are in gradual decline and will need to restore a strong conservative
identity in the new government -- a process that might cost Merkel her status
as "mom" of the nation if she presides over radical business reforms that
polarize the country's political scene.
The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"If the chancellor continues to play the role of the nation's 'mom,' she will
have difficulties with the FDP and her own party. But if she turns into a
Margaret Thatcher-style 'iron lady,' she will lose her kudos and reputation
among the population. Which means that Angela Merkel's golden era is over.
The CDU has spent a long time profiting from the weakness of the SPD and
drawn its strength largely from that. It was a borrowed strength. The decline
of the SPD made the conservatives look stronger than they were. The CDU's
support is eroding, as is the CSU's in Bavaria. The conservatives as a mass
party are waning just as the SPD has already waned. The political center is
being taken over by the smaller parties."
The conservative Die Welt writes:
"Angela Merkel's success has failed to translate into votes for her party.
One can only conclude that the conservatives have lost some of their identity
and political clout, and voters no longer know what they really stand for.
The conservatives are about to follow the SPD on the not-especially-smooth
downward trajectory away from the status of being a mass party. The limits of
the chancellor's survival skills have now become visible. There will now be
stronger calls for the party to adopt a distinct identity and to pay more
heed to its clientele, and rightly so."
The left-leaning Frankfurter Rundschau writes:
"The SPD lost voters to the Greens in the 1980s and to the Left Party in
recent years. It will lose the status of a mass party if it keeps on trying
to put up with this situation, if it seeks the safety of a grand coalition
after every election. After 11 years in power, Germany's Social Democrats
face a new beginning with a limited leadership team. The fact that
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is staying on despite the historic debacle is an
indication of how limited the supply of potential party leaders is. With or
without him, the SPD must launch a tactical and programmatic offensive to win
back the voters who have drifted to the Left Party. This is its opportunity
in opposition -- and its only chance."
The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:
"The SPD hasn't even made any major mistakes recently that could serve as an
excuse for disaster. This collapse is the result of an inner disintegration
that has been going on for a long time. The SPD is a disheveled, paralyzed
party. It urgently needs to drop its neurotic attitude towards the Left Party
and adopt a normal relationship with it. That may be easier in opposition.
But it's more than doubtful whether the SPD leadership will be able to do it."
The mass-circulation tabloid Bild writes:
"The grand coalition has been voted out -- not because it did a bad job but
because voters didn't want a second round of rotten compromises. With this
clear majority for a conservative-FDP government, voters have shown more
courage than the politicians credited them with. This is a clear mandate for
Angela Merkel and FDP leader Guido Westerwelle -- a mandate to keep to their
election promises. The new government must get to grips with the national
debt. Taxes must come down for everyone who is prepared to roll up their
sleeves -- the small and medium-sized business sector, skilled workers,
people willing to work. And the government must find clear words regarding
the war in Afghanistan."
-- David Crossland
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「就像其他各類集體主義一樣，種族主義也尋求不勞而獲。它尋求自動獲得知識﹔它尋求
自動評價人們的品質而忽略運用理性或道德判斷的責任﹔而更重要的是，它尋求自動的自
尊（或偽自尊）」
Ayn Rand<The Virtue of Selfishness>
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