Chancellor Merkel held two key positions.....Chancellor and CDU Party chief. So, over the weekend....she's agreed to step down as party chief (some folks are worried over campaign efforts in 2019 and think new leadership needs to form up).
The four key players for the party chief job? The Secretary-General of the CDU Party right now.....Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (noted as AKK, and heavily favored by Chancellor Merkel....said to be a carbon copy of her). The rest? Health Minister Jens Spahn, former parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz , and North Rhine-Westphalia's prime minister Armin Laschet.
My view of the four? AKK is noted as a carbon copy of Merkel, and that might be a negative right now, but she has zero issues and carries a debate very well.
Laschet has had a lot of TV appearances and generally carries himself well.....but isn't exactly a 'thrills-guy'.
Merz is a long-shot and I think the older members of the party might prefer him.
Then you come to Spahn. He's in his late 30s.....brilliant at debates, very smart, and is a solutions guy. He is openly gay, and appeals to the younger crowd in the CDU.
Here's the thing.....whoever gets this job....is likely to be the Chancellor candidate in 2021. If this were up to Merkel....AKK would be the only possible candidate. I like Spahn because he is blunt and an entirely different character than Merkel, but his age issue is one that most folks will point out. As for the gay factor, I don't think many Germans care.
No comments:
Post a Comment