Caretaker Laschet and the failed left provocation

WORLD Thomas Vitzthum | In the ARD "Wahlarena," Armin Laschet answers a wide range of citizens' questions that show how poor the parties' range of topics in the election campaign has been so far. The CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor does not play the attacker, but the caretaker. A role that suits him far better. Armin Laschet showed so much empathy and problem awareness that the questioners did not have to feel snubbed. Those who recently followed the election campaign speeches of Armin Laschet, the Union's candidate for chancellor, were able to learn from him above all why it would be better not to vote for the other parties, the SPD, the Greens and the Left. Since the collapse in the polls, i.e., about three weeks ago, the focus of the CDU/CSU campaign has clearly been on mobilizing the core electorate, the die-hard voters at that. This is the group of voters who can be persuaded to vote for the CDU/CSU because of the prospect of a left-wing government majority, despite all the doubts about candidate Laschet. This strategy is beginning to bear fruit, as the consolidating poll numbers suggest. But it has several decisive disadvantages. It disturbs swing voters. And it obscures the Union's intentions. Voters learn a lot from the constant warnings about what the others are up to, but it is precisely because of this that they have difficulty recognizing what the CDU and CSU are planning. That is the problem with the content of this strategy. But there is also a psychological problem. Anyone who constantly badmouths others can hardly come across as a sympathetic contemporary. Armin Laschet, of all people, who has always been considered a cheerful Rhinelander, now has to live with the attributions of being stroppy, aggressive and sometimes disinterested. It is this one role that he has certainly trained himself to play. He tried out the aggressive attitude in talk shows long before he applied for the CDU presidency and - after positive reactions from the party - kept it. Until today. Laschet is now taking it so far in the election campaign that on Tuesday, in a format in which children directed questions at him, he spoke intimidatingly to the eleven-year-olds and presented himself as an annoyed senior teacher. A dark hour in the Union election campaign. On the other hand, the CDU/CSU experienced a bright hour on Wednesday evening in Lübeck. In the ARD election arena, the CDU leader answered questions from the audience. And Laschet emerged, as he was supposed to have been a year and a half ago: approachable, understanding, sympathetic, but also quick-witted and, in a positive sense, aloof. This role suits the politician far better than the now established gruff one. Why the Union and why he himself have declared his old strengths to be weaknesses remains a mystery. The citizens are more concerned than the parties think The questions suited Laschet because they touched on a huge spectrum of topics. They ranged from the ban on blood donations for homosexuals, the financing of women's shelters, concerns about whether people should still be bringing children into the world because of climate change, to a lignite miner's worries about the coal phase-out, to the import of pigs, which is ruining prices for farmers. The range of questions was so wide and the personal commitment of the questioners so honest that it became all too obvious how puny the official election campaign has been so far. Citizens are more engaged than the parties think. The election campaign does not want to overtax anyone and yet undertaxes many. Journalists, it must of course be said in all honesty, also make their contribution to this with the same questions that are always expected. Laschet was therefore avowedly grateful for many unexpected questions. He did not know a perfectly rehearsed answer to every one. But he showed so much empathy and problem awareness that the questioners did not have to feel snubbed. With regard to the ban on blood donations, for example, he admitted that he simply didn't know enough about the subject. You don't often hear that from a politician. He would approach Health Minister Jens Spahn again with this request, however. Finally he explained however nevertheless still that it may give therefore no discrimination. "Logically the rule does not appear." To a long-term unemployed person who apparently can't find a job despite numerous advanced training courses, Laschet said, "You are an asset to any company. If there was a smart employer, he would hire you immediately. You please give me your phone number." To the young lady who is hesitant to have children because of concerns about global warming, he said, "I want to give you confidence that we can do this." But he also clearly opposed some things.