The Federal Chancellor always thought that one only had to be self-confident and then briefly state what conclusions one had drawn. Now the reality test: meeting a mother of four.
Olaf Scholz has had to listen to a lot in the past few weeks. Whistles from demonstrators, sharp warnings from his own coalition, bitter comments from half of Europe, but in the end it’s the verdict of a single mother of four that should make him think the most. For a good hour he answered questions about inflation, Ukraine and debt from two men and two men in an RTL studio. At the end, the woman is asked how she assesses the chancellor’s ability to explain his politics. Average, she says.
Unlike at the beginning of his chancellorship, Scholz now spends a considerable part of his time promoting his actions. However, he does not reach a significant part of the population to the extent that it would be reflected favorably in polls, have a positive effect on the SPD result in state elections or even convince the mother of four. Scholz grew up politically in the certainty that people appreciate the brief communication of a self-confident. Now he has to experience that that is not enough, and that the thoughtful and doubtful character of Robert Habeck is better received by many Germans.
Scholz, however, cannot transform himself into a Habeck without making a fool of himself. So he can only hope for two things: the power of habituation, which has already benefited Angela Merkel. And the power of the factual as soon as government action – as with the relief decisions – becomes noticeable to the people. The less both occur, the more dangerous the communicative deficits of the chancellor become for the coalition. Under pressure, Scholz tends to have a Basta mentality. This is unlikely to lead to the desired result, either for the plucked and insecure Liberals or for the Greens, who have been boosted by their election results.