A woman holds a magazine supplement of German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung depicting Peer Steinbrueck, Social Democratic Party’s chancellor candidate, giving the middle finger, on September 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO / JOHN MACDOUGALL (Photo credit should read JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is still atop the polls ahead of elections there next week, though her numbers are declining and her center-right coalition is now deadlocked with the center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and the Left Party. The public got a taste of the alternative when Peer Steinbrück, leader of the Social Democrats who hopes to replace Merkel as chancellor, flipped his middle finger on a magazine cover in an attempt to generate some buzz and demonstrate authenticity where the incumbent has shown caution.
Suffice it to say the move is a desperate one by a pol who has been widely mocked for his ineffectiveness both as a campaigner and in government. But if nothing else, it does appear to have changed the conversation from how big Merkel’s win will be to whether the public will respond to such a spontaneous and wild gesture with something other than derision. And even if Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union is virtually certain to outpace the other parties next week, the weakness of her coalition partners has added some intrigue to what was looking like a sleepy contest.
State elections in Bavaria this weekend will be taken as a barometer for what might happen in the real thing a week later. If the Social Democrats outperform, pundits may attribute it to Steinbrück’s colorful move. The public appears to favor a “grand coalition” between the SPD and CDU, which would be a familiar scenario to Steinbrück, who served as finance minister under Merkel during her first term. But if nothing else, the magazine cover has to make that less likely. Steinbrück is going all-in, determined to find a way to channel the growing portion of the electorate not content to ride out another term under Merkel’s technocratic government. In a contest that has been defined by its lack of passion, he has offered up a welcome change.
