This week, Germany got a new president: Christian Wulff, an uncharismatic politician who until then had been content to rule the state of Lower Saxony, home of Volkswagen. The German president played an unhappy role in the Weimar Republic, and the post is a ceremonial one without any power. He or she is elected by an assembly dominated by the political parties. Since the governing coalition under Angela Merkel had a majority in the assembly, Wulff's election should have been a matter of form, and the whole election little more than a political blip, considering the drama unfolding in South Africa at the football World Cup. However, things turned out very differently. The circumstances of Wulff's election may prove to be the death-knell of Angela Merkel's ill-starred second term as chancellor.
For a start, the election was the result of an embarrassment. Wulff's predecessor, Horst Köhler, had resigned in a huff following criticism of some remarks he made while visiting German troops in Afghanistan. (He had said, quite rightly, that an international trading nation such as Germany had an interest in guaranteeing stability and open trade routes all over the world, if necessary by military means. This was construed as a call for gunboat diplomacy.) Merkel had to come up with an ersatz president quickly, and so she did. Wulff was nominated within a couple of days.
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