Germany: Head of state steps down

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Since I very much prefer Jens Böhrnsen over Ursula von der Leyen as head of state, I'm gonna enjoy the president-less time as long as it lasts.

Well, my President had at least a good excuse for once: plane crash.

[KuntaKinte]

It's high time to get rid of this office anyway, in my eyes. Every 5 years Germany has to go through an episode of disgusting personal intrigues and party tactics, while everyone talks about the "dignity of presidency" and so on.

We should just let the president of the Bundesrat do the ceremonial job for his year in office.

[minionofmidas]

Hopefully Angela Merkel doesn't become Fuhrer now.

Epic fail.

Yeah:

a) it's Führer (or if you can't find the ü on your keyboard, Fuehrer)
b) she's a woman, so it'd have to be Führerin.

[Middle-aged Europe]

ARD reports that von der Leyen's chances are dwindling again. YAY! This means that the next one is probably even worse.

Still hoping for Lammert.

[Tender Branson]

ARD reports that von der Leyen's chances are dwindling again. YAY! This means that the next one is probably even worse.

Still hoping for Lammert.

I´ve watched some TV in the morning and they mentioned Gov. Wulff from Niedersachsen.

But would he really step down as Gov. to become President ?

[Middle-aged Europe]

ARD reports that von der Leyen's chances are dwindling again. YAY! This means that the next one is probably even worse.

Still hoping for Lammert.

I´ve watched some TV in the morning and they mentioned Gov. Wulff from Niedersachsen.

But would he really step down as Gov. to become President ?

I read on Spiegel Online that Wulff proposed it himself.

Apparently, Merkel's choice of Ursula von der Leyen was vetoed by the CDU minister-presidents.

[Franzl]

I'm willing to jump in if they need me.... Just need to convince them I'm 40 years old

[minionofmidas]

Since all the President really *needs* to do (and basically all the government wishes to see him do) is smile and wave his hand... Hr3 radio has suggested the Teletubbies.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It's high time to get rid of this office anyway, in my eyes. Every 5 years Germany has to go through an episode of disgusting personal intrigues and party tactics, while everyone talks about the "dignity of presidency" and so on.

We should just let the president of the Bundesrat do the ceremonial job for his year in office.

Well, from my point of view, I wish Poland would have presidency like Germany, to strip President from any power and influence.

(I advocated this even before recently deceased comes to office, which made things much worse)

[Middle-aged Europe]

It seems settled now.

On June 30, the minister-president of Lower Saxony and CDU/CSU/FDP nominee Christian Wulff faces off against the former federal commissioner for the Stasi archives and SPD/Green nominee Joachim Gauck.

No word yet whether the Left will nominate a candidate of its own. The Gauck pick could piss them off.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It seems settled now.

On June 30, the minister-president of Lower Saxony and CDU/CSU/FDP nominee Christian Wulff faces off against the former federal commissioner for the Stasi archives and SPD/Green nominee Joachim Gauck.

No word yet whether the Left will nominate a candidate of its own. The Gauck pick could piss them off.

Pastor Gauck? Seriously?

[Middle-aged Europe]

It seems settled now.

On June 30, the minister-president of Lower Saxony and CDU/CSU/FDP nominee Christian Wulff faces off against the former federal commissioner for the Stasi archives and SPD/Green nominee Joachim Gauck.

No word yet whether the Left will nominate a candidate of its own. The Gauck pick could piss them off.

Pastor Gauck? Seriously?

Why not? It's actually a good move to counter the boring career politician the CDU has nominated. Gauck certainly won't win any Left votes, but he'll probably draw some CDU and FDP votes away from Wulff. And if he manages to do that, SPD and Greens will already have achieved their goal.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It seems settled now.

On June 30, the minister-president of Lower Saxony and CDU/CSU/FDP nominee Christian Wulff faces off against the former federal commissioner for the Stasi archives and SPD/Green nominee Joachim Gauck.

No word yet whether the Left will nominate a candidate of its own. The Gauck pick could piss them off.

Pastor Gauck? Seriously?

Why not? It's actually a good move to counter the boring career politician the CDU has nominated. Gauck certainly won't win any Left votes, but he'll probably draw some CDU and FDP votes away from Wulff. And if he manages to do that, SPD and Greens will already have achieved their goal.

I haven't said that's a mistake. I'm just suprised.

[Middle-aged Europe]

It seems settled now.

On June 30, the minister-president of Lower Saxony and CDU/CSU/FDP nominee Christian Wulff faces off against the former federal commissioner for the Stasi archives and SPD/Green nominee Joachim Gauck.

No word yet whether the Left will nominate a candidate of its own. The Gauck pick could piss them off.

Pastor Gauck? Seriously?

Why not? It's actually a good move to counter the boring career politician the CDU has nominated. Gauck certainly won't win any Left votes, but he'll probably draw some CDU and FDP votes away from Wulff. And if he manages to do that, SPD and Greens will already have achieved their goal.

I haven't said that's a mistake. I'm just suprised.

Yeah, I'm also shocked that the SPD didn't screw this up. Then again, they had help from the Greens this time.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Ah, and it seems that David McAllister is set to become new minister-president of Lower Saxony. (Scottish father, if anyone wonders about the name.)

[minionofmidas]

It doesn't matter. The right majority is too big for anything to happen, so Gauck is a paper candidate (and might not have agreed otherwise.)

[Middle-aged Europe]

It doesn't matter. The right majority is too big for anything to happen, so Gauck is a paper candidate (and might not have agreed otherwise.)

Obviously. Still, SPD and Greens made the best of the situation.

[Хahar 🤔]

Hopefully Angela Merkel doesn't become Fuhrer now.

Epic fail.

Yeah:

a) it's Führer (or if you can't find the ü on your keyboard, Fuehrer)
b) she's a woman, so it'd have to be Führerin.

Is she called a Bunderskanzlerin? Also, will we see a Präsidentin?

[Tender Branson]

Hopefully Angela Merkel doesn't become Fuhrer now.

Epic fail.

Yeah:

a) it's Führer (or if you can't find the ü on your keyboard, Fuehrer)
b) she's a woman, so it'd have to be Führerin.

Is she called a Bunderskanzlerin? Also, will we see a Präsidentin?

She`s either called Bundeskanzlerin, or just Kanzlerin.

No, we`ll see a Präsident Christian Wulff.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Probably preferable to von der Leyen. I don't expect anything exceptional from President Wulff though.

[jeron]

ARD reports that von der Leyen's chances are dwindling again. YAY! This means that the next one is probably even worse.

Still hoping for Lammert.

I´ve watched some TV in the morning and they mentioned Gov. Wulff from Niedersachsen.

But would he really step down as Gov. to become President ?

I read on Spiegel Online that Wulff proposed it himself.

Apparently, Merkel's choice of Ursula von der Leyen was vetoed by the CDU minister-presidents.

Apparantly, conservative forces within CDU don't like two wouldn't like two women at the top. Catholics supposedly didn't like two protestants. (Wulff is a catholic)

[Middle-aged Europe]

For what it's worth, the conservative "Welt" newspaper has practically endorsed Joachim Gauck. Since Thursday they published two pro-Gauck editorials ("Why Gauck would be a better choice than Wulff" and "Gauck is the right one") and today their website has an article on "This is how highly Angela Merkel thinks of Gauck", citing a speech the Chancellor gave a speech on Gauck's 70th birthday.

Still, a Wulff victory on June 30 should be expected. If Merkel doesn't manage to get "her" candidate approved by the Federal Assembly despite a clear CDU/FDP majority she could resign just as well. And this is probably the main reason why Wulff will win. Nevertheless, it's at least entertaining to see that some CDU/FDP electors will probably be forced to vote for the candidate they don't prefer personally. Which is exactly what the SPD wanted with the Gauck nomination, I guess.

[minionofmidas]

Merkel isn't the type to resign.

Though if that were to happen... she'd probably be something of a lame duck for the remainder of her time in office... which in the CDU limits her remaining time in power to about another decade.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Next week's SPIEGEL cover ("The better president"):

 


Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, the 1994 presidential candidate of the FDP, has also endorsed Gauck. She left the party in 2002 though, so probably not much impact here. Some East German FDP bosses are also pissed that Wulff was pushed on them, saying that they're still debating who to support in the Federal Assembly.

It's still a hopeless cause, but I've decided to commit myself to the hype.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

There are two very ironical things regarding Koehler.

1. Basically since he took an office in 2004, I heard about him for two occassions: reelection in 2009 and when he comes to Krakow in April 2010. Hell, I hear more about von Weisacker, who's now 90 and is long out of office.
2. I learned about the resignation of the head of next door state two days after the fact... from Atlas. Big lol.