Merkel - Schulz Debate: A Duet, not a Duel

If anyone thought that Martin Schulz could revive his flailing campaign with a strong debate performance, they were sorely disappointed by last evening's "TV-Duell".  Schulz blew his chance to make a case for change by essentially agreeing with the chancellor on many issues.  Of course, his problem was that his own party as coalition partner was equally responsible for many of the policies he was attempting to criticize.  In the end, as Gabor Steingart noted this morning, his performance came across as more of a "job interview" for a government post:

Das war kein Duell, sondern ein Bewerbungsgespräch. Martin Schulz will offenbar im September nicht Kanzler, sondern Büroleiter von Angela Merkel werden. Er verlangte nicht ihre Abwahl, sondern sehnte sich nach ihrem Respekt. Er habe zur Vorbereitung ein paar Sachen nachgelesen, vermeldete er stolz. Merkels Festlegung zur Rente fand er „toll“. Was man so sagt, wenn man den Job unbedingt haben will.

On the other hand, after having sat through three televised debates between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, last night's snooze fest featuring two respectful, competent politicians was not entirely unwelcome.

What really bothered me about Schulz was his appalling ignorance of foreign policy.  Okay, he scored some points with his tough stance against Erdogan in Turkey.  But he was so intent on trashing Donald Trump that when asked about the North Korea's nuclear threat he said he would engage with Mexico and Canada.  There are only three nations that have any influence on the crisis on the Korean peninsula: Russia, China and the US.  With a weakened European Union, Germany's only chance to have any influence in the world is through its alliance with the United States.  In his campaign stump speech, Schulz attempts to score populist points by calling for the removal of American nuclear weapons from German soil, even as Putin is building up his nuclear arsenal in Kaliningrad.

Apropos Russia, it was the chancellor who had the best jab of the evening - sealing her debate victory:

Lustigste Szene: Folgte auf die Frage, wie das Engagement Gerhard Schröders beim staatlichen russischen Ölriesen Rosneft zu bewerten sei. "Schröder untergräbt die Sanktionen der EU, das ist ein sehr trauriger Zustand", sagte Merkel. Schulz kritisierte Schröder, gab aber auch zu Protokoll, der Altkanzler habe sich "um dieses Land große Verdienste erworben". Darauf die ARD-Moderatorin Sandra Maischberger: "Um Russland?"

Comments

[koogleschreiber]

At least they didn't hug each other...