The question of who will lead Germany's next government appears to have been resolved. Sources from current Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats and Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats say an agreement has been reached that will make Merkel Germany's first woman chancellor. The deal is said to have been reached during Sunday evening's meeting between Schröder and Merkel in Berlin. They're meeting again this hour, along with SPD leader Franz Müntefering and Edmund Stoiber of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the CSU. Both Schröder and Merkel claimed to have won a mandate to lead the country after last month's inconclusive election, in which the CDU won four more seats than the SPD.
Now, if you recall the 2000 US elections, the Democrat graciously conceded defeat to the fasc-- er, I mean, right winger and look what we have six years later.
Normally, in a situation such as this in Germany, one presumes that some tit-for-tat occurs, and that Schroeder would have gotten some concrete concessions (perhaps just a cover-all pardon? There's been some hanky panky in his government, probably no worse than any other government and CERTAINLY no worse than the corrupt crooks running the US now). Those concessions usually have to do with some power that the new Chancellor sets aside in the agreement. Think of it as a pork barrel agreement.
My instincts say, however, that Schroeder folded.
I wonder where Karl Rove has been these past few weeks?
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