Commentary on the SPD party conference: Like a motivational seminar

At the SPD party conference, which was reminiscent of a motivational seminar, the Chancellor made many comrades happy by rediscovering his attitude. It wasn’t about big political solutions.

“We are proud that you are one of us,” says the SPD leader to the SPD Chancellor. “One of us” then. Recently, with the traffic light compromise Chancellor Olaf Scholz, one could occasionally forget that the man also has an attitude in addition to a budget crisis. That he is “one of us,” as Saskia Esken exclaimed with emotion.

In any case, the comrades were rightly very happy because Olaf Scholz remembered just in time that his heart also beats on the left. That this taciturn Mr Scholz could be a socialite with the smell of a stable. Someone who doesn’t first think of parasites when they hear the word welfare state. Someone who has respect for the work of hard workers and minimum wage earners. And the right-wing populist with the 160-year-old pride of a workers’ party shouts: “You are neither social nor are you democrats.”

Not a both/and chancellor

These deeply insecure Social Democrats wanted to hear, see and even feel all of this at their party conference from their usually under-tempered both-and-chancellor. “Our recipe is confidence,” says the man who recently remained silent beyond recognition at the traffic lights. And when he spoke as traffic light chancellor, he said nothing. “We have to stick together.” That was the request that Olaf Scholz made to his SPD. And this SPD understood that.

“We have to stick together”

In any case, the store stands together remarkably. While just a few years ago the Socialists’ eyes and then heads rolled when faced with much smaller crises, at this party conference there was an almost eerie unity. Yes, the Jusos complained about the couples therapist and traffic light presenter Scholz. But otherwise?

Top election results for the leadership team and standing applause for the traffic light man Olaf. Motto: We’re currently at 14 percent in the polls, but do you remember 2019? We publicly considered whether we should nominate a candidate for chancellor at all.

Red backbone for the comrades

This party conference turned out to be a bit like a motivational seminar for a government party that, although it has the chancellor, is also asking itself the question: What do we actually stand for anymore? Scholz gave his answer: “We are here for you. We do politics because of you.” That’s what the Socialists should shout to the people.

This means that no budget crisis has been solved, no war has ended, no nagging FDP and stubborn Finance Minister Christian Lindner have been contained, no bridge has been repaired and no climate has been saved. But that wasn’t what this SPD party conference was about.

It was more about giving the store a red backbone and giving the Chancellor a little more courage. To a hot heart and a clear edge, as Franz Müntefering once described it. The Socialists managed both. And now? Now they go on to govern. Or as Scholz said: “Germany doesn’t need people who stop working when things get difficult.”