How they see us: Rewarding Germany’s Merkel

“Don’t be fooled” by the pomp of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s state visit to Washington this week: Germany’s relationship with the U.S. is “deeply troubled,” said Clemens Wergin in the Berlin Die Welt. President Obama is acting as if Merkel is his favorite person in the world, calling her “an inspiration” to him, throwing her one of his rare state dinners, and bestowing upon her America’s highest honor for a foreigner, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But that award was announced months ago, when the two were getting along much better. Recently, Obama has been “extremely irritated” by Merkel’s reluctance to act in Libya. Germany actually abstained from the U.N. Security Council vote to create a no-fly zone over Libya—the first time Germany had ever failed to vote with the United States.

By rights, Obama and Merkel ought to be close friends, said Holger Schmale in the Frankfurter Rundschau. The first black U.S. president and the first female German chancellor are overachievers who each “embody the American dream” that anyone can grow up to lead a country. Both are highly educated, cerebral, and reserved, and both have a “pragmatic and deliberative approach to making decisions.” Yet if Obama hoped to find in Merkel a “partner in leadership,” he has been disappointed. In every crisis, be it Afghanistan, Libya, or the global financial meltdown, “Germany under Merkel has shirked international responsibility.” By feting her so lavishly in Washington this week, Obama is trying to persuade her to take on a greater diplomatic role. Unfortunately, he “runs a great risk of being ignored.”

The disappointment goes both ways, said Der Spiegel in an editorial. Merkel sees Obama as having failed to match his actions to his words, and she “does not have faith that he can solve the world’s problems.” In her view, the American president awakened “unreasonable expectations” in the Palestinians when he predicted there would be a Palestinian state by the end of this year. And she “resents Obama for having initially spoken out against intervening in Libya” and then changing his mind. At this point, “the greatest thing the two governments have in common is their mutual annoyance.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But the Americans are desperate to make up, said Matthias Nass in the Hamburg Die Zeit. With the Middle East in turmoil, China growing ever more powerful, and the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan still simmering, America “needs strong partners more than ever before.” As the powerhouse of Europe, Germany should step up. Perhaps Merkel’s new medal will inspire her to rise to the challenge of shouldering more responsibility.