As always, candidates will be checked in five categories; read the criteria here.

From rags to riches: Merkel was born in Hamburg, but moved to East Germany in her early childhood, when her father, a priest, was offered a job there. He occupied a leadership position within the church, but his wife wasn’t allowed to work as teacher and stayed at home to raise Merkel and her two siblings. After studying physics and working at the German Academy of Science, Merkel joined the reformist GDR government after the Wende and later became a minister under Helmut Kohl and eventually CDU chairwoman and Chancellor. While raised by academic and well-off parents, the extra hardship of having to grow up in the Zone and then making it in the Alphamale-dominated CDU give Merkel a well-deserved one and a half Obamas.

Diversity:  Merkel can only score with her gender here, a half Obama.

Vitality:  She is in her second marriage and has no children. A witness says he saw her take a swim, but no photographic evidence has emerged. A half Obama.

Web 2.0:  Neat website, 16,816 Facebook supporters (more than twice as much as her SPD opponent) and a sophisticated social network that allows grass-roots organizing. She did regular video podcasts during her tenure as Chancellor and has no Twitter account.  Near perfection, two Obamas.

Policies: Merkel supported the stimulus package passed at the start of the year, supports the current Afghanistan mission and has been ambiguous about admitting Guantanamo detainees. She wants moderate tax breaks for most Germans and no tax increase for top earners. One Obama

Total:

With the candidates of the five major parties now tested, let’s take a look at the final score:

5th Place: Guido Westerwelle

4th Place: Oskar Lafontaine

3rd Place: Renate Künast

2nd Place: Frank Walter Steinmeier

2nd Place: Angela Merkel

When there’s a tie at the Olympics, both contestants get a gold medal. No such easy cop-outs here! Sorry, Angie and Frank, but there’s only one Obama and you’re both not even close.

From rags to riches: Steinmeier’s father was a carpenter from Brakelsiek, his mother a factory worker and refugee from Breslau. He was the first member of his family to attend a Gymnasium and get the Abitur and later studied law in Gießen. In 1991, he began to work for Gerhard Schröder and eventually followed him to the chancellery. One and a half Obamas.

Diversity: Nada. Zero Obamas

Vitality: Steinmeier played in the local soccer club for ten years (nickname: “Prickel”), is married and has one daughter. One Obama.

Web 2.0: Clean website, 4,690 Facebook supporters, no Twitter and a real social network, that actually allows user interaction. Easily the best performance thus far, one and a half Obamas.

Policies: Steinmeier supported the German stimulus package, supports the Afghanistan misson and was one of the first to call for German admittance of Guantanamo inmates. One and a half Obamas.

Total:

With five and a half Obamas, Steinmeier takes the lead in our competition. Will he able to hold onto it with only Chancellor Angela Merkel yet to be tested? Find out very soon, here at tapmag!

You can find all the posts of this series here.

From rags to riches: Künast was born in Recklinghausen to a auto  mechanic and a nurse. She first studied social work and was employed in a penitentiary before she began studying for her law degree. One Obama

Diversity: Nothing to report here, but since women are still underrepresented in German politics she gets a half Obama.

Vitality: Künast likes inline skating and running and eats healthy, but admits her work keeps her away from regular exercise. She has no children. One Obama.

Web 2.0: A neat website, Facebook account with 1,848 friends, no Twitter and a social network that looks good, but is more of a glorified mailing list. One Obama.

Policies: Künast wants Germany to accept Guantanamo inmates, she supports ISAF (unlike the Green Green Party’s  base) while opposing OEF and wants a strong stimulus with more green elements and without tax cuts.  One Obama.

Total:

With four and a half Obamas, Renate Künast is the top-points-getter in our series so far but still miles away from total Obamaness. Will Vice-Chancellor Steinmeier of the SPD get there? Check back soon.

From rags to riches: Lafontaine was born in Saarlouis to a baker and a secretary; his father died in World War II. His mother, who raised him and his twin brother alone, sent Lafontaine to a Catholic boarding school where he got his Abitur. One and a half Obama.

Diversity: Nothing sets him apart from the typical German. But at least he has a French surname and since the Saarland is practically a part of France, he gets a half Obama.

Vitality: Lafontaine is 65 and that’s how he looks. He’s in his third marriage with a total of two children. He sustained life-threatening injuries in an 1990 assassination attempt but quickly returned to politics, so for perseverance he gets one Obama.

Web 2.0: Lafontaine has a simple website that mainly caters to voters in the Saarland and not the federal level, no Twitter account and a Facebook page without content. A half Obama.

Policies: Lafontaine advocates a much stronger stimulus package than the one passed by the German government, a tax of 80% for the top income bracket and, diverging slightly from Obama, wants to nationalize all banks and overthrow capitalism. He also wants German troops to completely withdraw from Afghanistan and has not voiced an opinion on Guantanamo inmates. Zero Obamas.

Total:

With three and a half Obamas, Lafontaine did only marginally better than Westerwelle. Obviously we haven’t found the German Obama just yet. Will we next week? Check back then!

German politicians craving for voter attention hope to get at least some of that Obama-glamour for themselves. We will test how obama (new adjective!) the candidates of the five major parties really are.

In five categories, the politicians can get up to two Obamas each, with a total maximum of ten Obamas. Here is what we’re looking for:

From rags to riches: Obama was raised by a single mom, living off food stamps at times. His father was out of the picture for most of his life. He graduated from public high school and eventually got degrees from two Ivy League schools, Columbia and Harvard. To gain Obamas, candidates need to come from humble beginnings and faced hardships on their way to the top.

Diversity: Obama’s father was from Kenya, his mother from Kansas. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia, and has relatives living across the world. He married a woman from the South Side of Chicago. To score in this category, candidates should diverge significantly from the typical German politician.

Vitality:  Obama is 47 and exercises daily. He regularly plays golf and basketball and managed to raise two daughters despite his career. Candidates need to appear youthful, be physically active and ideally have produced offspring to get Obamas here.

Web 2.0: The Obama campaign revolutionized campaigning on the Internet. His website features its own social network, he’s active on YouTube, Twitter and the like and has over 6 million Facebook supporter. German candidates need to come close to that for maximum Obamas.

Policies: Obama supports a strong stimulus package to restart the economy, with both big spending and tax breaks for the middle class. He plans to raise taxes for the rich and has announced to increase the troop presence in Afghanistan. Obama wants Europeans to admit some of the detainees of the soon to be closed Guantanamo Bay. Policies are always the trickiest to compare. Candidates are checked for their position on economic stimuli and taxation and on their stance towards the Afghanistan War and detainee admittance.

So who is the German Obama? We begin with the candidate of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), Guido Westerwelle.

From rags to riches: Westerwelle was born in Bad Honnef, his father is a lawyer, as is his mother. That’s a triple fail, zero Obamas.

Diversity: He is a white, ethnic German male, but then also gay, gaining him one Obama.

Vitality: Westerwelle is three months younger than Obama, he likes beach volleyball and mountain biking. He has no children (sure he’s gay, but he could have adopted). One Obama.

Web 2.0: A website straight from 1999, no Twitter account, 1,266 Facebook supporters and no own community. A half Obama.

Policies: Westerwelle called the German stimulus package unsuitable and instead advocated tax breaks across the board, including for rich Germans. He supports the Afghanistan mission, but not sending additional troops and said Guantanamo inmates are mainly the concern of the U.S. A half Obama.

Total:

With only three Obamas out of a maximum of ten, Westerwelle clearly failed the Obama Check. Wanna know whether the other candidates fared better? Check back next week, when we test Oskar Lafontaine of the Left Party.

You can find all the posts of this series here.