“What puts her off about Obama is his high-flying rhetoric. She distrusts it.” – The New Yorker magazine
While Barack Hussein Obama swept into office on a wave of popularity that extended to Europe and the Middle East only to see that acclaim dwindle, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has quietly gained leadership strength and approval.
“In Obama’s first years in office, Merkel was frequently and unfavorably compared to him (Obama), and the criticism annoyed her,” wrote George Decker in a Dec. l, 2014 piece in The New Yorker. Quoting Stern, a German publication, Decker writes, “Her favorite joke ends with Obama walking on water.”
“She does not really think Obama is a helpful partner,” wrote Torsten Krauel in the publication Die Welt, “She thinks he is a professor, a loner, unable to build coalitions.”
Decker’s major profile, The Quiet German: The Astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world, was one of two recent articles about her. Vanity Fair’s feature, Angela’s Assets, appears in its January 2015 edition. Merkel, however, looks upon “the most powerful woman” label with disdain. Continue reading