I hate to be the one, well, no not actually, to douse David's favorite bete noir of those stupid conservatives having their hopes dashed again either by an altered form of reality or the sudden revealing of their plans to enslave the human race in sweat shops. But the truth of the matter is that many conservative writers and editorialists had dismissed Angela Merkel's bona fides as a conservative in the mold of Reagan and Thatcher even before the election. And the subsequent deflating of the predicted landslide, by the German press, caused many to point out that she would need to strike deals with anyone and everyone that had some seats and even deals with the German version of the LaRouche crew. And Germans thought Scientologists were strange.

But the fact remains that it was mostly the liberal press, ie., Deutsche Welle and The Guardian for example, that were anxiously sounding the klaxon in case Ch. Merekel smiled on TV in late September and revealed gore dripping fangs. Which would have at least taken their attention away from that armpit story.

I personally don't think that Americans in general care a fig about the kind of economic system the Germans have except when there is a possibility that the Cayenne hybrid or Panamera might be delayed. But at least Merkel's government, befitting its reduced status, has revealed two things which conservatives would have recognized and not been surprised about immediately. The first in the sell out of even some minor free market ideas to stay in office and the second in that they will not have to turn on a nightly news programs and see Gerhart Schroeder any more.

But then here's what some conservatives actually were saying about Angela Merkel before the 2005 election. Mark Steyn noted that, "By the end of the campaign, she was promising little more than tinkering..." From an opinion piece in The Telegraph on September 20, 2005.

While the National Review, that notorious den on neocons, conservatives, fundamentalists and apologists for the plutocracy noted Angela Merkel was merely "...a centrist sheep in Thatcher clothing."

[url[http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/comment/baslam_typy200509160900.asp[/url]

And even the liberal internet magazine Slate, unlike the other chicken littles wondering aloud about how could Germany be more stupid than to elect a GWB wannabe, also pointed out that "...Merkel is no Thatcher."

http.slate.com/id/2122001/

Jeez Joerg, all this time I was thinking I was the only one who was having problems posting links! Et tu?

Or we could consider just the opposite in imagining a scenario where a US presidential candidate went on national TV and called for a WTO investigation into Germany's oil dealings with Russia and even before the a defense could be offered basically promised to do everythng in the world to block it? Would there be the slightest possibility that Germany would be feel betrayed and that the candidate's failure would be hoped for in Berlin. Or even rejoicing when he was defeated even by a nonentity.

Yes, indeed some polls show hostility to the US but then what country is expected to aid in the event of a natural disaster or suffers more criticism when it chooses not to act against rogue regimes? It is certainly not Germany which many in the world can have warm feelings toward simply because Germany is incapable and unwilling to do any foreign policy heavy lifting aside from a bare minimum. If anythng the US has simply noticed and confirmed that in striving for its own foreign policy that Germany has virtually chosen to join a new group of non-aligned nations, though Germany has acheived this state still firmly protected by NATO.

What power can Germany accrue when compared to Israel, with 1/14th the population has 8 times as many main battle tanks and almost twice the number of modern deployable air assets. I Germany wants to be, as a former German leader put it, "...a nation of shopkeepers and clerks", then fine.

Maybe the problem is in that the US still expects Germany to act as a great power, a world power, when we should be looking at Germany as a regional power confined, with much success I might add to dealing with friendly and hostile powers within eyesight, though its perceived cooperation with Russia has made some progress in dealing with the former satellites more difficult. Some of the more rabid press in Poland and the Baltics see these trade deals as an attempt by Germany to again form alliances that would allow them and Russia carte blanche in their areas of concern. In that case I would probably guess that those countries have more in common with the US than in Germany.

But I still hold out hope that Germany might become more realistic or desperate enough to reform itself and truly become a great power again. I am not one of those that thinks Germany was a great power only it was a monarchy or dictatorship. German citizens are democrats, and like the US not often perfect, but with good instincts but lacking in either the ability or confidence to act on those good instincts.

But currently Germany seems to justify its lack of power by being holding up a sign claiming to be liked, in that sort of inoffensive way of a tourist that has suddenly realized that the collection of colorful locals on the next corner are smiling at him, not because he is a likeable German, but rather in how much his wallet might carry and whether he'll bleed all over his new found friends. Being popular and liked in Asia seems a poor trade-off when Germany's neighbors still don't like the country and in some cases still don't have much trust in it as well.