Lower Saxony state election: No reason to celebrate in Berlin
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Status: 09.10.2022 10:00 p.m
The SPD in Lower Saxony did not win because of Scholz, but in spite of it. The Chancellor now had to get to work himself to get the traffic light coalition ready for winter.
That was actually a bang – for the SPD. Even if the performance in Lower Saxony was a “Because-Wumms” – and by no means a “Scholz-Wumms”.
The election victory belongs to Stephan Weil and not to Olaf Scholz – even if the Chancellor and his followers would like to see it that way. But the SPD in Hanover didn’t win because of Scholz, but in spite of Scholz: supporting Ukraine half-heartedly, managing the energy crisis poorly, using the traffic lights poorly. It wasn’t a tailwind, it was a headwind. Because has held up. It is legitimate for Scholz to celebrate his party friend, but now he has to get to work quickly and do his traffic light winter festival. There is much to do.
“Double bang” doesn’t make the living room warm
Citizens are dissatisfied, worried about Putin’s nuclear unpredictability and because they don’t know whether they will get through the winter well. After all, an announced “double boom” doesn’t make the living room warm. Unfortunately, warm words are also scarce – Scholz governs scholzig, unapproachable and very clumsy.
The result is dramatic: the AfD flourishes. Dissatisfied people go over to the right-wing radicals, who have no concepts of their own, but simply stir up fear and agitation. It is the task of the Federal Chancellor and his traffic light friends to stop them. The Union does not manage to catch the traffic light dissatisfied. CDU leader Friedrich Merz tries to use right-wing populist slogans and fishes on the right edge – that doesn’t work, the AfD is still growing. The traffic light is all the more required.
No traffic light team building, but ego profiling
No more cacophony – only a coalition that sticks together can convince. Instead, they like to work against each other there and rely on the party’s own profiling. Out of nuclear power, into nuclear power, gas levy yes, gas levy no, weapons for Ukraine, yes please, no thanks. Will it get better after this election? It doesn’t look like it. The frustrated FDP has already announced that it wants to sharpen its profile. That doesn’t sound like traffic light team building, but rather ego profiling. First the FDP, then the country. And in these times! It’s hard to believe.
In all this chaos, one thing is lost: an explanatory, encouraging word. Not from Scholz, not from his deputy Robert Habeck. There is little to no sign of a political leadership that wants and is able to keep citizens together. A constant “You’ll never walk alone” is of no use if too many feel left alone.
Editorial note
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