Der Kanzler Kommt

So after of couple of weeks in Deutschland, I starting to try to figure out all the parties and issues that were at stake in the upcoming Bundestagwahl, or elections. I have started taking pics of all the posters I had been seeing (which I will include in the next couple posts.) But one i saw that started popping up around Radolfzell showed a picture of the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with a simple sentence below it: "Der Kanzler Kommt." Followed by the date, time, and location. It was to take place in Friedrichshafen, about an hour away from Radolfzell by Train (mit dem Zug.) I couldn't have imagined a better opportunity! To be able to see the charmer, the gambler, the Kanzler, I had to go. So I got a few other Americans from the program to come along. To ride the train we had monthly passes, but Friedrichshafen was too far away and out of the "zone" for them. We decided to chance it and act like ignorant Americans if need be and ride the train. We were "Schwarzfahrers" as they are called around here. We didn't really have any idea where we going in Friedrichshafen. All we had was the location listed from the poster and a general idea where Friedrichshafen was. Luck must have been on our side, no checked tickets, and finding "Uferstrasse am Antoniusplatz" was easy because the first thing that you learn in any language is how to ask for directions.
Antoniusplatz was packed with people. What was most surprsing and a bit refreshing to see Germans of all generations crowded around listening to the local Social Democratic Party (SPD) Kandidaten give rousing speeches. Even the Punks with mutli colored hair felt it important enough to drink and at the rally rather than their normal streetcorners or houses. Each speech poked a good deal of fun at the opposition and Angela Merkel and defended the current ruling Rot (SPD)- Gruen (Green Party) coalition. The coalition has been weakening for years after 1998 when Schroeder's SPD and the junior partners the Greens won a wide vicotry, promising great things. Schroeder was quite boastful while winning promising to reduce unemployment to almost 3 million and bringing the economy of the decrepit East German on equal footing with the West. It has been far from a success. Unemployment has hit 11 million, and in some parts of the east it is 20 % of working age population. But the Rot-Gruen coalition has been paralyzed because Schroeder has proposed many reforms that are greatly unpopular with the public and especially with the leftist base of the SPD/Greens. The biggest problem in this election though, is that the other main party, the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) are proposing more the same painful reforms, and are very vague about how they plan on keeping the once proud German social-market intact. The social market (which is extremely complex and would take a whole other post to scratch the surface) is something in which most Germans are most proud. Most Germans are wary of reforms that would deconstruct a system that gurantees a social safety net for the unemployed, humane (or some could say very generous) working conditions, and also healthcare for EVERYONE. It was pointed out in a recent intercultural class I have that German culture is a risk avoidance culture. One of the most risk averse cultures in the world. The U.S. is on the other hand one of the highest (if not the highest) risk taking cultures. For a German to have the certainty that they will have their job, access to a doctor, or not fall into a huge pit of debt taken away is something they will react to strongly. Hence Germany's current conumdrum, who is worse, the devil you know or the one you don't? More analysis in future posts. Here is how close I got Schroeder- I didn't get to shake his hand though, my friend did (and they don't even like him!) Anyway, very exciting. Schroeder has an amazing voice meine Damen und Herren. It sounds like a low baritone, almost musical. Surprising when german can considered so harsh.