If George W. Bush had released a CD of beer-drinking songs, I probably would’ve voted for him. I can picture the CD now: George W. Bush sings Drink that Beer.
That would’ve scored major points with me.
Gerhard Schroeder, the recently re-elected German Chancellor, has a CD of beer-drinking songs. That probably helped him squeak by in the closest election in Germany’s history.
On September 23, Schroeder’s party, the Social Democrat Green-Coalition defeated Christian Democrat rival Edmund Stobier by a difference of only three percent of the popular vote.
One cornerstone of Schroeder’s campaign was his opposition to an American war with Iraq.
”We say openly: The Middle East, Iraq included, needs a lot of peace but not a new war,” Schroeder said at his final campaign rally.
Most Germans seem to agree with him.
“Germans are annoyed with Bush’s attitude. He thinks the United States can do whatever they want without the approval of the rest of the world. They don’t like that,” said German professor David Limburg, who recently returned from Munich.
German relations with the United States are strained after one of Schroeder’s Cabinet ministers said, “Bush wants to distract attention from his domestic problems. That’s a popular method. Even Hitler did that.”
This comment received national attention and infuriated many Americans.
Schroeder wrote an apologetic letter to Bush, and the Cabinet minister swears she was misquoted.
While the German election pivoted around foreign policy, one key issue seemed to be ignored: the German economy.
Unemployment is high, and economists agree that Germany is in need of economic reform. Germany has the biggest economy in Europe and the third biggest in the world. What happens to the German economy will greatly affect the world.
“Schroeder’s victory was the result of things that were beyond his control, like the U.S. and Iraq. I think the real test for Schroeder’s campaign will be the economy,” said junior Cam Cate, whose parents live in Germany.
Schroeder has a tough road ahead of him. He must reform the German economy while maintaining foreign relations in the face of a new war.
That sounds stressful. Maybe he should have a beer.