Is Steinmeier the Right Man for President?

Basically I don't have strong feelings about who is chosen as President of Germany.  It is a ceremonial position and is elected by what seems to be an undemocratic process - mostly by politicians with some celebrities thrown in the mix.  The president is ostensibly "the conscience of the nation" - standing above the political fray and speaking out for national unity and the constitution.  I personally liked Gauck - a man who showed real courage in advocating for basic human rights in the GDR and Soviet Bloc.  Having lived most of his life under Russian domination, Gauck had zero illusions about Putin.  Now Frank-Walter Steinmeier - a life-long SPD politician - has been "elected" president.  Will he stand for Western values?  Or will he carry on with his appeasement course with the Kremlin that he pursued as foreign secretary? 

Also, I question Steinmeier's basic commitment to human rights.  I think back to the dark chapter in the Bush Administration when "terror suspects" were held without due process and tortured at Guantanamo Bay.  One of the prisoners was Murat Kurnaz - a young man from Bremen who was totally innocent of any terrorist activities.  Even US authorities admitted they made a mistake as asked for Germany to take him back - which Steinmeier refused at the time.  Bernhard Docke, Kurnaz's lawyer, reminded us of the sorry episode yesterday in an interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:

Murat Kurnaz ist enttäuscht darüber, dass sich Steinmeier da so ignorant verhält. Er ist bar jeder Selbstkritik, warum kann er nicht wenigstens sagen: Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht, es tut mir Leid. Dass er jetzt Bundespräsident wird, ohne diese Altlast bereinigt zu haben, ist für Kurnaz schwer nachvollziehbar. Auch inhaltlich ist Steinmeiers Argumentation abwegig: Alle Experten haben damals gesagt, dass von Kurnaz kein Sicherheitsrisiko ausgeht. Und dies hat sich ja auch nach der um vier Jahre verspäteten Entlassung bewahrheitet.'

Stefan Laurin, a blogger/journalist from Dortmund, writes this about Steinmeier: 

Es wäre gut, in den kommenden fünf Jahren und den immer härter werdenden Auseinandersetzungen, die wir erleben werden, einen Präsidenten zu haben, der durch klare Worte Stellung bezieht und die Kontroverse nicht scheut. Vieles wird sich ändern in den kommenden Jahren. Die Hegemonie der Werte der Offenen Gesellschaften wie die Universellen Menschenrechte, Demokratie und Pressefreiheit könnten zunehmend in Frage gestellt werden. Ein Präsident, der sich gegen ihre Relativierung stellt und dafür auch  bereit ist zu streiten, wäre wünschenswert. Das Frank-Walter Steinmeier sich zu diesem Präsidenten entwickeln wird ist leider unwahrscheinlich.

("In the next five years we will be living through some difficult times and it would be good to have a president who can articulate his position clearly and forcefully and will not shy away from controversy. We can expect many changes in the coming years. The values of the open society, universal human rights, democracy and freedom of the press could come under attack.  We need a president who opposes the relativization of these basic principles and is prepared to fight for them.  Whether Frank-Walter Steinmeier can become this president is unfortunately doubtful.")

Well, he can't be worse than Christian Wulff. 

Comments

[Zyme]

I don't like him either.

As Foreign Minister, most of the time he was busy being "worried and very concerned". In contrast to that, sometimes also was "concerned and very worried". I guess this sums up his activities in the last few years.

Come to think of it, based on that he actually may be the perfect fit for his new role! :-D

[David]

"concerned and very worried" :)

Do you think there is still a role for president?

[Zyme]

Could you rephrase? Not sure I see what you mean.

[David]

I meant, is the office superfluous? Seems to me, Germany no longer needs a Bundespräsident.

[Zyme]

I see. We don't need a great many things from our current system. The Bundespräsident certainly is part of that category.

Another would be the numbers in our parliament. Regarding our trusted Parteisoldaten (I don't think US members of parliament would be fond of being called "party soldiers"):
How many votes in parliament would be different if the 600+ MPs were made redundant and each party in there would have only 1 representative, who would be awarded the equivalent of the percentage his/her party received in the last general elections?