“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.”
As this photo seems to convey, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not an admirer of President Obama (washingtonpost.com)
“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.
Merkel’s first experience with Obama took place in July 2008 when candidate Obama wanted to speak at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, the historic location reserved for heads of state. Merkel turned down the request, so Obama gave his speech in the Tiergarten.
While Merkel wouldn’t approve Obama’s request to speak at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, he still managed to draw a crowd at Tiergarten. (reobama.com)
Obama drew a crowd of 200,000 delirious fans, a crowd Merkel could never have mustered, let alone mesmerized, wrote Decker.
Obama’s arrogance was evident even before becoming president as his Berlin speech was being trumpeted as another JFK “ich bin ein Berliner” speech and Reagan “tear down this wall” address. Obama spoke of “global citizenship” and vowed to “remake the world once again.”
He told the throng in the Tiergarten that “We’ve (the U.S.) made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions,” before declaring “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.”
It was that kind of bombast that caused a senior official to tell Decker, “What puts her (Merkel) off about Obama is his high-flying rhetoric. She distrusts it.” He cited her philosophy of “under promise and over deliver.”
The revelation that the NSA had been recording Merkel’s phone calls was seen as a betrayal, not only by Merkel, but by the German public, which has soured on Obama over his years as president. While conveying his regrets to Markel privately, he never publicly apologized. Nothing new there. In July, the CIA station chief in Germany was told to leave Germany.
While President Obama may still hear the cheering crowd in Berlin and in Denver’s Invesco Field, he is now a lame duck and the majority of Americans believe we are headed in the wrong direction.
Meanwhile, it is Merkel, who won her last election by 96.7 percent, and has gained approval after being at the helm of Germany for nine years.
“She makes deals, not speeches,” Britain’s Daily Telegraph said. “She is the ultimate political realist, always willing to strike a deal, but never at any price.”
