http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/opinion/global/cohen-merkel-the-great.html?ref=international
Once again, a very balanced and knowledgeable piece about Germany and Angela Merkel. Talking to my 92 year old mother in Germany on Sunday after the elections, she confessed that both of her votes (odd German electoral system) went to the Socialists, as they had for many decades. But at the same time she said that she was not worried about the Socialist defeat, as Angela seemed to have things under control. That, I think, describes the state of mind of the majority of Germans.
I do have two nit-picks:
Mr. Cohen makes the aside - "... (the former [the blazer] often just a touch too tight)…" This is still in this day and age a very sexist comment, which Mr. Cohen probably does not intend, but still comes out almost involuntarily. No commentator would ever think to insert a comment like that about a male politician.
The concluding paragraph about Angela Merkel being "… the leader of the world", after the very even-handed editorial, again brings to the fore the paranoia and stereotype, undeserved today for Germans in general, but especially inappropriate for Angela Merkel, of the "ueber alles in der Welt".
Further up in the editorial Mr. Cohen correctly states "[Merkel] has also walked the very fine line for Germany between demands for leadership and perceptions of ominous dominance." That is the correct image to leave the reader with, not the old stereotype of "world domination".
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