You seem pretty tied into the German political scene. I’m not. It confuses me. Every year for years it seems we get articles about how the elections gave Merkel a crushing blow (and I know, it’s about the coalition, not her personally) yet in spite of that she remains firmly ensconced and able to continuously enforce and extend apparently unpopular and unwanted policies. Almost as if elections mean nothing and the headlines are just for show.
I could write 400 pages on this but I’ll limit it to three key points:
1. Elections since 1919, and particularly after 1949 involve multiple parties, with varying agendas. Right now, there are six significant parties and another 30-to-40-odd parties. For a German, it means drawing your top three to five priorities and filtering out the ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ of the various parties. As much negative chat as you can say about the CDU leadership (not just Merkel)...you are hinged to the various policies, reforms, pension changes, etc...that the CDU Party is selling. If you were very unhappy with Merkel and the CDU over migration....your choice is what? Solely the AfD Party (which is mostly a sole topic party right now. Some CDU voters might go that way...most won’t because the CDU has the better overall program.
2. Most Germans will tell you that the center-left (SPD) and center-right (CDU, Merkel’s party) have become one single group, and the SPD is truly not an opposition party. Go look at total voting for the two groups. Back in the 1970s...they took 90-percent of the normal vote between them. Around 1990, they moved to 75-percent. This past election (Sep, 2017), they took around 54-percent. Lesser parties are taking more voters. No one is saying the two big parties are unpopular, but it’s obvious that the public is seeking something different.
3. Finally, as much as some want to think that immigration and migration are the number one political topic in Germany...it’s not. Public affordable housing is in the top five topics now. This diesel car crisis involves near 14-million cars and is now a top five issue. The number of Germans on pensions which won’t cover their basic needs, and they go to welfare grocery operations for extra food has gotten a lot of public attention. Taxation is a major topic. Pro-EU enthusiasm is drawing criticism by some in Germany. Schools and student behavior are now a major topic. The rising costs for the country health insurance is now a topic.
At the end of this pro-Merkel and anti-Merkel chat...the question comes up....if you did replace her...then who? The SPD screwed up big-time in January 2017...going with Schulz. He’s proven he’s not the guy, and for other reasons...he’s fallen from favor within the SPD. Within the CDU, I can name three possible Merkel-replacements. But in public view...none are four-star. From the lesser parties...forget it. I like Jens Spahn but he’ll run into trouble dragging the neutralist CDU more to the right (his political slant).
Finally, to your suggestion....all this media attention and hype being just for show? Well...yes. That is a problem. The summer of 2017, I expected a lot of hyped up Germans in the election year, but that didn’t happen. It was strangely quiet and a very dull campaign period. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think the general public are skeptical about Berlin ‘saving-the-day’ and fixing all the problems. Political chat forums on public TV are losing favor with the public.