Germany goes post politics
Imagine, if you can, a scenario in which the Democrats and Republicans merge and the only opposition left to face them is Bernie Sanders. If that's too farfetched, try this: Britain's Labour Party and Tory Party unite to govern the United Kingdom leaving Ming Campbell to man the opposition benches. Again, the scenario tests our powers of imagination.
But that's exactly what's happened in Germany. The country's main parties have bonded to run the republic leaving an impotent opposition made up of assorted extremists, fantasists and oddballs. In other words, the air has been sucked out of the political debate and the people are rapidly losing interest in the entire process because they see it as a rigged game that they are powerless to influence. Berlin seems to have forgotten that the perception of the masses is a crucial factor in self-governance and the source of the legitimacy of power. On the upside, though, Germany's economy is finally beginning to hum, suggesting that when it had politics it had paralysis and now that it has gone post politics it has progress.
Another round of visualization coming up. Imagine if Wolf Blitzer decided to retire from hosting the Situation Room and CNN offered the job to Lesley Stahl and she accepted. Only to announce later that she was not interested. Or, try this: imagine if Jeremy Paxman decided to pack in Newsnight and the BBC offered his job to, say, Adam Boulton, who accepted and then said he wasn't interested. All highly unlikely situations, you would say.
Except that's precisely what's happened in Germany. The host of the country's top current affairs show, Sabine Christiansen, has decided to join her new husband in Paris from where she'll busy herself with CNBC Europe, and her employer offered the position to the very talented and popular Günther Jauch who has now thrown a mighty spanner in the works because after initially indicating that he'd accept the job, he announced last week that he's not going to do it.
Among Jauch's stated reasons for not taking over Christiansen's role was that his "independence" would be compromised. He feared that the various Trotskyites and Maoists in the top levels of ARD would interfere with the editorial process and clip his wings when it came to making the kind of centrist programme that would reflect his mildly conservative values. And, according to a Rainy Day source, the political miasma enveloping Germany was a critical factor as well as he doubted that the programme could notch up decent ratings in a climate where there is no debate and no dynamic. Television thrives on confrontation, but when consensus is the only game in town, the box loses its trump card.
All this is not to say, by the way, that politics has disappeared in Germany. The various provincial chieftains and dons are busy as ever dividing up the spoils; handing out perks to loyalists and squandering vast amounts of public money on their favourite pork projects. But this is small comfort for the pundit caste, which is faced with filling acres of print and hours of air time with, well, nothing substantial. However, just when it looked as if the political correspondents would have to find real jobs, Germany's strangest state decided to go Cuban, even though it produces beer instead of rum and has mountains in place of ocean. Tomorrow, here, a report from the restive Sierra Maestra/Alpine kingdom..
