Just recently, less than two months ago, during his farewell tour to Europe, Barack Obama took time to express his gratitude to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling her a close partner, while noting that she would become a standard-bearer of “democratic values” once Donald Trump is inaugurated.
At that point Obama couldn’t care less about diplomatic peculiarities, since he bluntly described Merkel as his closest ally in Europe, which was taken as an attempt to challenge Britain and France by a number of analysts, since those states have been playing the role of Washington’s ally in the region just as obediently. Earlier last year Obama gave the highest praise to the policies pursued by the German Chancellor by complementing her on the decision to open EU doors to millions of migrants, while criticizing London for putting the EU to the test by its decision to withdraw from the union.
However, it’s curious that there’s a good German proverb that may suit this case: Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (Do not praise the day before the evening).
It’s hardly a secret for anyone how pathetically poor the political career of the 44th president of the United States ended. The meltdown of the Obama administration at the end of Barack Obama’s second term in office would most accurately be described as a rapid collapse. Against this background it’s been noted time and time again that Angela Merkel is a colossus with legs of clay, that can go down just as fast as Obama did.
For instance, Washington’s mouthpiece – the CNN would be quick to nominate Angela Merkel for the role of the biggest loser of the year 2017. It’s being stated openly that unlike her British counterpart, Theresa May, Merkel looks remarkably out of touch with the winds of change sweeping through Europe, ignoring the growing calls for greater sovereignty and control over national borders.
She clings to a withering European project, while being reluctant to recognize the massive Islamist threat that Europe faces. The Chancellor would be naively defending the European single currency while extolling the principle of freedom of movement across Europe in the face of mounting unease and fear at home and abroad.
In turn, the American Spectator would describe Merkel as the second worst postwar chancellor of Germany, while noting that since 1949, Germany has only elected eight chancellors. Six of them were able to advance German interests. Angela Merkel is not one of them, and even though she isn’t a bad person, but she is a failure. Germany has had leaders that were far more skilled in foreign affairs. For example, Chancellor Willy Brandt won the Nobel Peace Prize for signing treaties that improved relations with East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Yet, the policies pursued by the the sitting Chancellor is an equivalent of a trainwreck.
The WorldNetDaily openly admits that Merkel was branded “mad” and “off her rocker” after giving a really bizarre New Year’s Eve speech telling Germans to fight the bombs and guns of the Islamic State with love and compassion. It would note that Merkel destroys her own country by letting in inordinate amounts of violent Muslim rapists and murderers and then somehow expects the German people to embrace terrorism and sexual molestation with “love” and “compassion”? Is she for real?
Even though Merkel is plunging in popularity and a fourth term as chancellor is hardly an option for her, she continues to distance herself from reality and the voices of the German people. Maybe Merkel would be better off learning a couple of German proverbs, since she can most accurately be described by the following – Auch ein blindes Huhn findet mal ein Korn (A blind man may perchance hit the mark).
Grete Mautner is an indepenent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”