Word: derlying
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...Schröder's Political Future...
...German and an avid supporter of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder [June 6]. Schröder has been a stellar head of government from the day he took office. Always aware of Germany's past and its responsibility to the future yet never losing sight of the social and economic challenges his country faces, Schröder has followed in the footsteps of the greatest statesman Germany ever had, Willy Brandt. In my view, he is a pretty difficult act to follow...
...Schröder's idea of calling early elections is illogical. He hopes they will end the gridlock created by the opposition-controlled Bundesrat (upper house) and the government-controlled Bundestag (lower house). But if his Social Democrats win, the situation is likely to remain the same. What he should do is form a grand coalition with the opposition Christian Democrats until the constitutional end of the Social Democrats' term, in 2006. That would help break the legislative gridlock...
Normally, Germans are a sedate and patient people. It took 16 years to get sick of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but here we are, already tired of Schröder after seven years. Kohl's shoes were simply too big for Schröder to fill. If there had been no catastrophic flooding in August 2002 and if Bush had not gone to war in Iraq, Schröder's term would have ended after four years, in 2002. It's time for him to go. No one will miss...
There are two possible outcomes to Schröder's gambit of calling early elections. Either he will be re-elected, or he will discover, like King Canute, that even he cannot turn back an incoming tide...