Opinion What letter grade would you give Merkel’s time as leader

[panem-et-circenses]

I came upon an article entitled ‘Busting the Merkel Myth’, wherein it laid out her failings as leader of Germany, referencing her dealings with China, the United States, and Russia. Now, most of us don’t live in Germany, but she definitely had dealings with each of our respective countries, and, well, we are political watchers anyway.

Everyone has their own leanings and preferences. I will give her a C.

On the migrant crisis (according to Politico):

“Merkel responded to the political pressure by agreeing to significantly tighten Germany’s asylum rules, making it much more difficult for refugees arriving in Germany to bring their families. Together with the EU, she also cut a deal with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to seal off the migration routes in return for billions in cash, an arrangement that survives to this day. Turkey is now home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees. About 2 million more are stranded in Lebanon and Jordan.

Bottom line: Merkel’s motives might have been pure, but her refugee policy was more successful in dividing Europe than in alleviating the humanitarian crisis.”

She lied about her stance on Iraq, she insulted the beautiful people of Greece, went against the interest of America [you have traded with our worst enemies!], and probably contributed to an alienated Europe/UK.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

her time in office, though one of apparent stability, is one of incredibly bad decisions
- flooding europe with migrants, decision that harmed social cohesion here in europe, has strengthened nationalistic parties in a time when the EU was supposed to work towards leveling the differences within. this i feel is her worst legacy - opening the european borders to all sorts of scum who are not refugees but social benefit opportunists.
-treating the Greece credit crisis like a mother that chooses to ignore her son is a drug addict and giving him a trip to the Maldives thinking it will cure the addiction. as a consequence, greece is not even now a solid state, and it looks like it might never be one
- indecision in the field of foreign policy. yeah we get it, germany bad cause two wars, ok, now move the fuck on from that. the entire europe has moved on except germany who can't speak loud in a room without fearing they offend somebody. which has given birth to a generation of politicians that are overtly as PC as possible and every damn thing worth discussion is done behind closed doors, leading to a conspiratorial culture which is noticed by european allies who are none too happy about it.

grade, i don't know how that would work.
if 10 would be alexander the great and 1 would be Trudeau, she's like a 4.

 

[Bald1]

By all accounts a good and competent leader for Germany. Stability is to be valued highly, after all.

Also caused the EU long lasting if not irreparable damage with her short sighted invitation to the 3rd world, then further division inside those borders by advocating for something she's against. Multiculturalism.

But she obviously still retained the German people's faith in her, so I guess she could be rated as the chancellor or one of the main EU leaders. So my mark is bt (better than Trudeau).

 

[Bald1]

grade, i don't know how that would work.
if 10 would be alexander the great and 1 would be Trudeau, she's like a 4.

Lol. Beat me by 2 minutes.

 

[panem-et-circenses]

Culver City hs might help:

 

[phoenixikki]

She ruined Germany and divided Europe. The woman is the devil incarnated.

 

[ElKarlo]

her time in office, though one of apparent stability, is one of incredibly bad decisions
- flooding europe with migrants, decision that harmed social cohesion here in europe, has strengthened nationalistic parties in a time when the EU was supposed to work towards leveling the differences within. this i feel is her worst legacy - opening the european borders to all sorts of scum who are not refugees but social benefit opportunists.
-treating the Greece credit crisis like a mother that chooses to ignore her son is a drug addict and giving him a trip to the Maldives thinking it will cure the addiction. as a consequence, greece is not even now a solid state, and it looks like it might never be one
- indecision in the field of foreign policy. yeah we get it, germany bad cause two wars, ok, now move the fuck on from that. the entire europe has moved on except germany who can't speak loud in a room without fearing they offend somebody. which has given birth to a generation of politicians that are overtly as PC as possible and every damn thing worth discussion is done behind closed doors, leading to a conspiratorial culture which is noticed by european allies who are none too happy about it.

grade, i don't know how that would work.
if 10 would be alexander the great and 1 would be Trudeau, she's like a 4.

This. The immigration is obviously idiotic
But most forgot about the Greek debt crisis that has basically turned Greece into a zombie state that should fail but won’t quite. It’s like the Qing empire that for some reason won’t topple.
They also didn’t help Greece so they’ve harmed it and the reputed the EU incredibly. I understand why the uk left even if they had no idea what they are doing

 

[Bourbaki]

D- at best (but not really earned)
- insane austerity politics
- inhuman treatment of poorer EU nations in a crisis, that in addition to being morally corrupt also has dealt damage to the EU as a whole, and said member states in particular
- indifferent/inactive on climate change, arguably the biggest challenge for any leader
- soft on dictators as long as it secures an economic advantage
- severely influenced by lobbyists
- an absolutely terrible administration (granted, it's simply a very incompetent party)
- never came around on basic social progress (still couldn't get herself to vote yes for gay marriage in fucking 2017)
- extraordinarily bad crisis management throughout pretty much every crisis in her tenure
- bad/nonexisting communication with her people on many major issues
- short-sighted and procrastinating, never actually solved major issues or made an intelligible attempt at doing so, the new administration inherits a mess on multiple fronts (energy, covid, foreign policy)
- blind/indifferent towards right-wing extremism
- oversaw the rise of the first relevant far-right party since the second world war, clueless or indifferent on how to respond
- Due to a lack of big investments and conservative financial policies, Germany just feels 'stuck', spending some time in certain other European nations and coming back feels like travelling 10 years in the past. Poor availability of internet, increasingly lacking infrastructure, everything jus feels ancient and slow. There are also so many insane laws or states of affairs that are so obviously in a need of revision, but Merkel has not even touched many issues in 16(!) years.

I'm basically just giving her a D- based on my "it could have been much worse" feeling, especially with a view towards her party.
I think Merkel was, especially for everyone who's left of center, the mildest form of 16 years CDU that you can hope for.

 

[Deffid]

D- at best (but not really earned)
- insane austerity politics
- inhuman treatment of poorer EU nations in a crisis, that in addition to being morally corrupt also has dealt damage to the EU as a whole, and said member states in particular
- indifferent/inactive on climate change, arguably the biggest challenge for any leader
- soft on dictators as long as it secures an economic advantage
- severely influenced by lobbyists
- an absolutely terrible administration (granted, it's simply a very incompetent party)
- never came around on basic social progress (still couldn't get herself to vote yes for gay marriage in fucking 2017)
- extraordinarily bad crisis management throughout pretty much every crisis in her tenure
- bad/nonexisting communication with her people on many major issues
- short-sighted and procrastinating, never actually solved major issues or made an intelligible attempt at doing so, the new administration inherits a mess on multiple fronts (energy, covid, foreign policy)
- blind/indifferent towards right-wing extremism
- oversaw the rise of the first relevant far-right party since the second world war, clueless or indifferent on how to respond
- Due to a lack of big investments and conservative financial policies, Germany just feels 'stuck', spending some time in certain other European nations and coming back feels like travelling 10 years in the past. Poor availability of internet, increasingly lacking infrastructure, everything jus feels ancient and slow. There are also so many insane laws or states of affairs that are so obviously in a need of revision, but Merkel has not even touched many issues in 16(!) years.

I'm basically just giving her a D- based on my "it could have been much worse" feeling, especially with a view towards her party.
I think Merkel was, especially for everyone who's left of center, the mildest form of 16 years CDU that you can hope for.

I feel like Merkel was her own "party" and had barely anything to do with the CDU, especially in the past 6-7 years. She robbed the party (CDU) of any kind of identity because she was so far left compared to the base and even managed to further ruin by pushing hilariously terrible people (in terms of being able to take them seriously) in Laschet and AKK.

Not sure if I agree with every point of yours and that Merkel is solely to blame for everything, but a D seems fitting.

I'm willing to bet that the new coalition won't do any better, though (voted for one of the three btw).

"spending some time in certain other European nations and coming back feels like travelling 10 years in the past"

And that is with the german middle class absolutely getting fucked over with among the highest taxes, among highest energy prices, highest "social payments", pretty much highest everything in Europe while not taxing wealth at all. Where is all the money going?

 

[Bourbaki]

And that is with the german middle class absolutely getting fucked over with among the highest taxes, among highest energy prices, highest "social payments", pretty much highest everything in Europe while not taxing wealth at all.

Well, it has (once again) become painfully that "even" so-called social democrats have zero interest in that.
It was almost comical how quickly the SPD abandoned a (as in any) tax increase on super-wealthy or mega cooperations with a vague handwave at having to cooperate with the liberals now.
Oh, so you just got the most votes in a federal election and you're social democrats, ostensibly in the tradition of a workers' party? Makes sense that we'll see 0 tax increases on anyone with wealth then, given that you also need to talk to the FDP. Not like this should maybe be your defining characteristic in this coalition.
That's really not any less absurd than the Green Party saying we won't see any measures to combat climate change because that's the price of cooperating with the FDP.
I wonder how their voters would receive such news compared to the SPD base?

 

[kiley_sean]

D+

 

[Phlog]

I give her a B, in that I don't think anyone else, given the constraints, could have done much better.

her time in office, though one of apparent stability, is one of incredibly bad decisions
- flooding europe with migrants, decision that harmed social cohesion here in europe, has strengthened nationalistic parties in a time when the EU was supposed to work towards leveling the differences within. this i feel is her worst legacy - opening the european borders to all sorts of scum who are not refugees but social benefit opportunists.
-treating the Greece credit crisis like a mother that chooses to ignore her son is a drug addict and giving him a trip to the Maldives thinking it will cure the addiction. as a consequence, greece is not even now a solid state, and it looks like it might never be one
- indecision in the field of foreign policy. yeah we get it, germany bad cause two wars, ok, now move the fuck on from that. the entire europe has moved on except germany who can't speak loud in a room without fearing they offend somebody. which has given birth to a generation of politicians that are overtly as PC as possible and every damn thing worth discussion is done behind closed doors, leading to a conspiratorial culture which is noticed by european allies who are none too happy about it.

grade, i don't know how that would work.
if 10 would be alexander the great and 1 would be Trudeau, she's like a 4.

The migrant thing is going to ensure European economic sustainability in the next 100 years. The population of Europe is falling, our economic system is based on growth, it required as influx of new people to pay for ageing populations pensions.

Now the real fix would have been to change the system but literally no one globally has had the balls to do that yet.

The evidence is that migrants use less benefits and pay more into the economy than anyone else. It's an absolute lie to suggest they are an economic burden.

Re Greece I have no opinion.

Re foreign policy indecision I guess you'd have to point out specific examples for me to assess your claim.

 

[Sketch]

her time in office, though one of apparent stability, is one of incredibly bad decisions
- flooding europe with migrants, decision that harmed social cohesion here in europe, has strengthened nationalistic parties in a time when the EU was supposed to work towards leveling the differences within. this i feel is her worst legacy - opening the european borders to all sorts of scum who are not refugees but social benefit opportunists.
-treating the Greece credit crisis like a mother that chooses to ignore her son is a drug addict and giving him a trip to the Maldives thinking it will cure the addiction. as a consequence, greece is not even now a solid state, and it looks like it might never be one
- indecision in the field of foreign policy. yeah we get it, germany bad cause two wars, ok, now move the fuck on from that. the entire europe has moved on except germany who can't speak loud in a room without fearing they offend somebody. which has given birth to a generation of politicians that are overtly as PC as possible and every damn thing worth discussion is done behind closed doors, leading to a conspiratorial culture which is noticed by european allies who are none too happy about it.

grade, i don't know how that would work.
if 10 would be alexander the great and 1 would be Trudeau, she's like a 4.

You are too generous. Bercause of the bolded part alone I give her a 1. If a zero is possible I vote that.

 

[Sketch]

I give her a B, in that I don't think anyone else, given the constraints, could have done much better.



The migrant thing is going to ensure European economic sustainability in the next 100 years. The population of Europe is falling, our economic system is based on growth, it required as influx of new people to pay for ageing populations pensions.

Now the real fix would have been to change the system but literally no one globally has had the balls to do that yet.

The evidence is that migrants use less benefits and pay more into the economy than anyone else. It's an absolute lie to suggest they are an economic burden.

Re Greece I have no opinion.

Re foreign policy indecision I guess you'd have to point out specific examples for me to assess your claim.

Why is this crap always peddled so much? What about the younger generations? Why is everything about baby boomers getting their pensions to people?

 

[Bald1]

The evidence is that migrants use less benefits and pay more into the economy than anyone else. It's an absolute lie to suggest they are an economic burden.

Say what now? You're going to have to source this.

 

[Phlog]

Why is this crap always peddled so much? What about the younger generations? Why is everything about baby boomers getting their pensions to people?

Because people who consider the future and the effect of current decisions on it are forced to have to explain the link to people like yourself who can't connect the dots.

 

[Rygu]

D-

 

[Phlog]

Say what now? You're going to have to source this.

You what? It's in every available piece of evidence on the matter. It's so well understood it's essentially a fundamental law of nature at this point.

I'll just Google it for you and copy and paste the first thing to come up:

https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/75900/

And from the OECD
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wQFnoECC8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ImcGaSyQizrZG1DpCv85L

 

[Prutfis]

Well they didn´t invade Poland. That´s always a plus.

 

[Bald1]

You what? It's in every available piece of evidence on the matter. It's so well understood it's essentially a fundamental law of nature at this point.

I'll just Google it for you and copy and paste the first thing to come up:

https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/75900/

And from the OECD
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.oecd.org/migration/OECD%20Migration%20Policy%20Debates%20Numero%202.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjtv936n8X0AhWxolwKHbWRDJwQFnoECC8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ImcGaSyQizrZG1DpCv85L

Anything that doesn't differentiate between migrants, immigrants and refugees isn't a definitive piece. Nevermind that was written 14 years prior to the migrant crisis making it irrelevant to the topic at hand.


Edit: just saw it was last modified in 2019. Dammit, now I'll have to try to wade though it. Balls! My point stands as to migrant/immigrant/refugee.