The Ypsilanti Story

I sometimes essay over politics in Germany, and how things have become 'muddled'.  So this is one of those more unusual stories.

In regional Hessen politics....back in January of 2008...we had a state election.  For the CDU, it was considered a dismal episode and most conservatives would like to forget that year.  The CDU took 36.8-percent of the vote....down 12-percent over the previous election.  The SPD shocked most folks that year by taking 36.7-percent (an increase of 7.6-percent over the last election).

Numbers-wise, the CDU won (yeah by the margin .1-percent), but to form a government, you need a coalition.  Partner-wise, once the SPD said 'no', the path to a coalition was just about impossible.  So as weeks passed, the coalition game was handed to the SPD (the second-place winner) to form the state government. 

The SPD chief in charge?  Andrea Ypsilanti. 

Throughout this period in the fall of 2007....Ypsilanti had spoken to the suggestion of a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition as NOT going to happen.  The truth of the matter is that a fair number of the SPD members were absolutely open to Green partnering....but a fair number were NOT in favor of any coalition with the Linke Party.  Folks felt that Ypsilanti's words were going to be kept. 

So it was a shocker in this SPD effort to form a government....that she turned and said yes, there probably would be a SPD-Green-Linke Party coalition.  Frustration was discussed throughout the state because folks weren't happy with this idea.

To make this a possibility....a group vote was required within the SPD Party, and one key member voted against Ypsilanti.  This lead to a couple of downfalls, and by the end of that year.....Ypsilanti quit the SPD Party, and walked away.

This week, Ypsilanti got back into the news of Hessen, with a book discussing the state of politics in Germany, and "neoliberal capitalism."   The book title?  "And Tomorrow We'll Rule Ourselves".

Her chief comment?  Ypsilanti says the SPD Party has turned itself away from the working-class voters, and now resembles to some degree the American-Democratic Party...appearing to represent various groups.

Her long-term view of the SPD?  They need renewal.  She voices support for the basic income idea, and more reductions for working-hours.

In her analysis....there's a marginal amount of alternatives in German politics today. 

Will people care much for her opinion?  She's been out of politics for almost a decade, and some younger members have no memory of her history.  It might draw a debate, and open up some discussions about what's wrong in German politics today.