Opinion: No trust, no humility - the Chancellor is disturbing even in failure

STERN Opinion: No trust, no humility - the Chancellor is disturbing even in failure Jan Rosenkranz • 13 hours • 3 minutes reading time Question of trust, so what? Even on the day of his greatest defeat, current Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of big plans for the future. His appearance leaves one thing in particular: disturbing feelings. Anyone who sat in the Bundestag today and did not suffer from cognitive dissonance probably does not feel much else in life. Cognitive dissonance is what social psychologists call the disturbing feeling that arises when two incompatible perceptions collide. When the shoplifter starts preaching morals. When the chain smoker complains about the fine dust pollution on his street. Or when Olaf Scholz talks about future plans for his chancellorship. The Chancellor without economic growth. The Chancellor who has neither a budget nor his own majority. The Chancellor, who himself submitted the motion for the Bundestag to meet on this December Monday to withdraw confidence in him. Olf Scholz knows no humility You don't have to be a political expert to see, when you look at the bare facts, that not everything went according to plan. That blatant mistakes were made. That someone failed miserably here. But Olaf Scholz knows no humility; he stands at the lectern and speaks of strength and confidence, of plans and of the future. "We are a country that does not have its best days behind it, but ahead of it," says Scholz. The opposite could be said about his own political career: As of today, the politician Olaf Scholz is very likely history. As things stand, his SPD will not win the new elections. At best, it will save itself as a junior partner in a grand coalition or soon have the opportunity to renew itself in the opposition. Without Scholz. After three years and eight days in office, today the Bundestag legislated what had been clear since November 6th, the day the traffic light coalition was voted out: Olaf Scholz has failed as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. Failed because of circumstances such as crises, war and the Constitutional Court, yes. Failed because of coalition partners who argued, blocked, sabotaged or did not have the "moral maturity" (Scholz about the FDP) required for a government. Olaf Scholz failed above all because of Olaf Scholz But that is at best half the truth. Olaf Scholz failed above all because of Olaf Scholz. Because of a man who constantly has to give everyone the feeling that he knew everything earlier and better. Failed because of his inability to organize a trialogue between three such different parties. He had two options: to moderate it or to lead it. "Anyone who asks me for leadership..." – oh, let's forget about that. And yes, moderation also requires a minimum level of willingness to cooperate, a willingness that disappeared the more the coalition ran out of money. In that respect, the presumed future chancellor could not fare much better. According to the polls, Friedrich Merz will soon have his own majority, but not more money. It is the current chancellor who points to the worst, to the next cognitive dissonance: there is still an incredible amount to do, to modernize, to invest in bridges and rails and tanks. "Who are we burdening with these costs?" asks Scholz, the employees, the families, the pensioners? This is a task that will also break a future government if it only promises what is desirable without doing what is necessary. The CDU has formulated what is desirable in its election manifesto for pages on end, and according to economists, it amounts to 100 billion euros. A year. Friedrich Merz has not yet explained what is necessary in such detail: Where will the money come from? He wants to raise a double-digit billion sum by abolishing the citizen's allowance. The economy, which is apparently inevitably growing under Chancellor Merz, will generate further billions. In other words: these are hopeful figures. Hope that the economy will pick up, that tax revenues will rise, that social spending will fall. Hope that everything will somehow get better. The new coalition partners, however, must ensure one thing on their own: an awareness of why the last government failed. The inability to make compromises that last longer than the end of a coalition committee. This is not just a question of political content. It is a question of political attitude.