• English Site
• >World
• >Trans-Atlantic Relations
• >

  Opinion: Germany's Miracle Man

Opinion Germany's Miracle Man

By Claus Christian Malzahn

Part 2: Obama Must Talk Louder to Europe

Former German Chancellor Willy Brandt was a bit like Obama. He was a charismatic political leader and his kneeling down before the monument of the Warsaw Ghetto is one of the most truly dignifed moments in European history. Brandt, of course, wasn't a great manager of power. A charismatic leader has to offer more -- something that he really stands for, and he has to know how to push his agenda. The US president and his so-called Team Obama seem to have no problem when it comes to managing power, but at least in regard to Europe, they have not begun to push an agenda yet.

When Obama says that the US is about to change but that the US cannot be the only one to change, he should not overestimate the innate feelings of personal responsibility in the German populace or assume that they will fill in the unspoken subtext: If the US is about to change -- in ways the Germans will like -- then Europeans will also have to change -- in ways they might like less.

In America, too, Obama came up with a lot of utopian gusto. However, even before he took office, he began to give moral responsiblity back to the people -- but to a people that deeply understands notions of personal responsibility and the dignity this provides. When it comes to Europe, though, one could argue that Obama really has to start talking a little louder.

When Obama gave his speech at Berlin's Victory Column last summer, he talked about the post-war airlift during the blockade of Berlin and about the care packages the Candy Bombers distributed. And then he asked, buried in a subordinate and somewhat cloudy clause of one of his sentences, that Germans start thinking about how to pay back this moral debt. However, if I know my countrymen, then this type of "nudging" just isn't going to work.

The Trans-Atlantic Honeymoon May Soon Be Over

The difference being: Americans live in a society which of course celebrates commerce and selfishness -- but behind the bluster, a mere inch beneath the surface, there are often huge reservoirs of idealism and selflessness in individual Americans. We Germans, however, live in a world which in ways is much fairer and more organized for the public good. Yet, so many of our experiences from the Thirty Years War onwards have contributed to a hard egotistical core which lurks just beneath the dutiful surface of the national psyche.

So the new trans-Atlantic honeymoon might be over very soon, possibly due to disappointments on either side. The German government expects Obama to be more diplomatic and more cooperative than his predecessor. Then Berlin might be willing to follow him -- cautiously and not in every regard. But this change of diplomatic atmosphere is the easy part. The hard part goes back to those questions of love and hate.

Like American democracy after the collapse of the Third Reich, Obama is going to have to be immensely victorious and hugely successful in order to be loved in Germany. Or Germany might turn away. He is facing huge challenges: AfPak, the financial and economic crisis, the Middle East, competition with China. But the US cannot face these problems alone. Europe is affected by and called upon on virtually every point. We just haven't understood that yet. We detested the phrase obnoxiously pronounced by Washington during the Bush era: "What part of that did you not understand?" But now that really is the question -- what part do we understand? Too many Germans still think that all these things are solely American problems, caused by America, made in America, charged to America.

So even though Obama just returned the bust of Winston Churchill to England, after it had been on loan to Bush, the next time he comes to Germany he may in fact have to bring a "blood, sweat and tears" speech with him. People will listen to him, though they may not like what they hear. German-American relations have been dominated for too long now by collective and primal emotions. Let us leave that behind us. In the long run, it's just far too dangerous.

Claus Christian Malzahn is SPIEGEL ONLINE's Berlin bureau chief. He is currently participating in the American Council on Germany's Kellen Fellowship.

For reasons of data protection and privacy, your IP address will only be stored if you are a registered user of Facebook and you are currently logged in to the service. For more detailed information, please click on the "i" symbol.

Post to other social networks:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•