Opinion
Strategy for election
Dear SPD, no one believes you anymore!
The SPD party leaders Lars Klingbeil (l.) and Saskia Esken (r.) with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (m.)
© Getty Images
The SPD presents its election campaign strategy – which is characterized by a sound that no longer catches people. It won’t work like that.
Has everyone figured it out now? Then again to take notes: The The SPD is the only true workers’ party that does not organize the economic recovery from the upper ten thousand, as Friedrich Merz would have in mind, but from the hard-working and self-sacrificing middle. And so that there are no misunderstandings here either: only the SPD actually stands on the side of the employees. Sure so far?
This is roughly the message from the SPD leadership, which is intended to set the tone for the coming federal election and has now been repeatedly decided. The fact that this renewed commitment is necessary, once again flanked by attacks against the evil “Merz CDU”, reveals the real problem of the SPD: fewer and fewer are taking on the role of the incorrigible workers’ party. The comrades are stuck in a credibility crisis of their own making. This cannot be solved with auto-suggestion and the repetition of well-known demands.
The SPD shows its lack of ideas and helplessness
Back in March, the SPD executive board had largely laid down what is now on the table again: the demand for a higher minimum wage, additional taxes for top earners in order to relieve the burden on the broad middle, a reform of the debt rules and lower energy prices. However, this has neither resulted in “A strong economy for all”, as the ten-point program was called at the time, nor has there been an upswing for the stumbling SPD. Instead, the outlook has deteriorated further – for the economy, but also for the Chancellor’s party, which still has to provide proof of its drive.
The fact that the SPD sometimes gives well-known answers to even more pressing questions makes clear its increasing lack of ideas and helplessness. New demands such as an electric car purchase bonus or a “Made in Germany” bonus for companies that invest in Germany cannot hide this.
Because what party leader Lars Klingbeil wanted to see in March as an offer to talk to the FDP and Greens should now be an elementary part of the election campaign strategy. Seriously? Rather, it is the obvious admission that the Chancellor’s party was, firstly, unable to gain acceptance with its ideas among its coalition partners and, secondly, that it no longer expects them to do so. So the SPD is now relying entirely on itself. What didn’t succeed should now become a campaign hit: Olaf’s rest ramp.
But why should voters trust that this attempt will work?
No question, the party executive’s new decision primarily serves to sharpen the profile and is intended to clarify substantive differences – especially with the Union. The SPD could only enforce the purely social democratic doctrine if it wins an absolute majority in the next federal election. Based on their current poll numbers, it looks like at best a junior partnership in a government led by the Union.
Against this background, the question once again arises as to how profitable it actually is for the SPD to repeatedly demand reform of the debt brake or income tax. Ultimately, it was of little use to the comrades.
What to do? Maybe the opposite
The Social Democrats raised expectations that they could not fulfill – that made them vulnerable. To the delight of the extremists and populists who were able to score points in the disappointed working class milieu in the last European and state elections. But also the Union, which is now confidently moving into the space that the SPD has given up.
“We have the chance to become the workers’ party of Germany,” exults CDU leader Merz, who loudly announces an “Agenda 2030” in economic policy. Merz will still have to explain this, not least in financial terms. But as opposition leader he has a decisive advantage: he can demand a lot without having to show immediate results – for which the Chancellor’s party is now being punished. Merz is already well ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in terms of economic competence, like one starsurvey revealed.
It is questionable whether the Social Democrats can defy this trend with a new X-point plan. Its reputation as a workers’ party has suffered too much and its proposals are no longer taken seriously. What to do?
Maybe the opposite: Explain why something isn’t working and dare to be more honest. At least that is another suggestion from the SPD leadership. Anke Rehlinger, the Prime Minister of Saarland, recommends to her party that the press release should not be the beginning and end of political work. Your solution: “Do it instead of complaining”. According to this motto, Rehlinger won an absolute majority in her state in 2022.