German conservatives turn to the cult of Matron Merkel

[IndianaGreen]

German conservatives turn to the cult of Matron Merkel

Posters featuring the Chancellor's face are at the heart of election campaign

By Tony Paterson in Berlin

Monday, 7 September 2009

There is no name, just the smiling, matronly face of Angela Merkel. With a confident stateswoman-like air she looks down benevolently from giant posters plastered across Berlin. Overnight they have turned Germany's capital into a sort of Teutonic Pyongyang.

The slogans that accompany the flattering images of Germany's first woman Chancellor are also reminiscent of an era when political leaders relied on a personality cult to strengthen their hold on power. "We have the power" insists one. "A new togetherness" promises another.

Apparently bereft of vote-winning policies and with less than three weeks to go before Germany's September 27 general election, Mrs Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats have now shifted into top gear with a new campaign which focuses entirely on their best and possibly only asset; Mrs Merkel herself.

As a sequel to the placards, German television will tonight begin screening party political broadcasts detailing 54-year-old Mrs Merkel's rise from humble Protestant pastor's daughter raised in Communist East Germany to that of one of her country's most popular post-war Chancellors. Party policy is kept deliberately vacuous. "We can do it – all of us together!" is the pay-off line Mrs Merkel uses to rally viewers at the end do each slot.

The Christian Democrats are hoping their so-called "Chancellor-bonus" will sweep the party to victory in the September poll. Most German political observers agree that the party has no option but to hide behind its leader, who dwarfs all other conservative politicians in popularity. Significantly, Christian Democrat campaign posters that used photos of Mrs Merkel's conservative ministers were taken down last week and replaced by the ones that feature only her.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-conservatives-turn-to-the-cult-of-matron-merkel-1782932.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. Looks like we got some conservative Merkel fans among the unrec brigade

Oy!