Another cheap shot from Germany’s opportunistic chancellor

We’ve posted occasionally about the upcoming German election, which pits chancellor Gerhard Schroeder against challenger Angela Merkel, who is something of a free-market advocate. Schroeder is attempting to save himself by America-bashing, just as he did in 2002. This time he promises to be the “peace chancellor” and to take the military option off the table with respect to Iran.
Yesterday, in a televised debate with Merkel, Schroeder took things to a new level by attacking the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, about which, I suspect, he knows little (Merkel declined to discuss the matter). He contrasted the response to his government’s actions to far less devastating floods in 2002. Schroeder may be pretty good at responding to floods, but he continues to preside over a stagnant economy with extremely high rates of unemployment.
As for the debate, snap polls found that the public regarded the media-savvy Schroeder as the winner, but thought that Merkel had exceeded expectations with her attacking style. 40 percent of the viewers polled thought better of Merkel after the debate, the only head-to-head clash that will take place.