When politicians come under pressure, they like to evade. And when it comes to Corona, politics is under pressure. The old federal government, above all its managing health minister Jens Spahn, because of the summer’s omissions, the country leaders who also ignored all the warnings from the experts, who could have foreseen that this would really happen? And the new traffic light people who ended the epidemic emergency before taking office and thus put themselves in dire straits. It is difficult for them to find out what is mainly due to the FDP, whose learning curve unfortunately does not keep pace with the number of infections.
In the current dramatic corona situation, there are two main stimulus words. One is the compulsory vaccination. Anne Will is not about them this time. It’s about the other stimulus word, let’s call it the L-word, because the guests, all of whom with one exception come from politics, are so reluctant to use it. Health Minister Jens Spahn has been consistently avoiding it for days, and with a verve that he did not show a few weeks ago, he calls for “measures that massively reduce contacts”.
Talk host Anne Will wants to know more about it and is asking questions. Whether a nationwide lockdown is needed in Spahn’s eyes. Spahn squirms. “I am definitely in favor of reducing contacts nationwide”. Manuela Schwesig, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, lists what her federal state is already doing (in contrast to others, as she does not forget to mention). They are now “practically implementing a lockdown for the unvaccinated”. Later Schwesig repeats what is no longer possible for unvaccinated people in their country and Will is back on the job. “That also applies to those who have been vaccinated,” she objects. “Yes, that also applies to those who have been vaccinated,” admits Schwesig.
The FDP is currently having the hardest time in the matter of Corona, which has done well for months, scourging all possible measures of the previous federal government as disproportionate and now, as the saying goes, has to face the reality check. It’s good that at least she didn’t send her Vice Wolfgang Kubicki on the show, who is currently increasing the damage to his party in the Corona debate with practically every word.
But FDP leader Christian Lindner, who likes to put his opponents on the defensive with often cutting rhetoric, is stuck there himself this time. When Lindner got the floor, the first thing he did was tell a personal story. How he stood in line in front of a pharmacy to be tested. And how a business owner from the neighborhood approached him there. Her business will not survive a new lockdown, she said. “There is also damage from lockdowns,” says Lindner.
But Lindner is professional enough to indicate lines of retreat in good time. On Tuesday the Federal Constitutional Court will decide on the emergency brake of the old government with its massive restrictions. The traffic lights want to wait for this decision and not a few in the SPD and Greens should hope that the judgment will force the FDP to move. Lindner expresses this very awkwardly for his circumstances. In the course of the judgment, the further course of the measures will be determined. A little later, he added, should further measures be necessary, “the Bundestag is fully capable of acting at all times”. The FDP boss does not pronounce the L-word, but he does open a back door.
While Spahn, Schwesig and the Greens co-boss Annalena Baerbock do not dig into the wounds of the FDP, the FDP takes action mirrors-Journalist Melanie Amann the Liberals head-on. In the midst of an emergency, the future government would abolish the emergency and, with its new law, completely rule out certain measures. “Simply ruling out something completely, that is the FDP ideology,” she holds against Lindner.
But before he can puff himself up, his new partner Baerbock comes to his aid. It is wise to correct what has not worked. For example, to forbid jogging. Or prevent future school closings. After all, the political reflexes of the new traffic light friends are working. As a government, you stick together, even if you look dazed.
Will then runs a clip in which the Saxon Minister of Social Affairs, Petra Köpping (SPD), when asked whether there should be a new lockdown, says that anyone who knows a different measure should please tell her. Her party friend Schwesig calms her down via talk show. “I am sure that when the federal states say we need more that the federal government will enable more.” Schwesig does not pronounce the L-word either.
Peter Fahrenholz hopes that talk shows don’t always invite the same guests. Because political discussions need exciting arguments instead of well-known points of view.
(Photo: x)