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.

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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!

Several sources report that U.S. President Barack Obama will anounce Phillip D. Murphy, a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs, as the new U.S. Ambassador to Germany.

Murphy, 52, has been in charge of the Democratic Party’s finances, after he left Goldman Sachs in 2006. As an investment banker, Murphy has headed the German branch of Goldman Sachs in the 90s, and was involved in several deals with the Treuhand-Anstalt.  He will replace William R. Timken, who has left Berlin in January.

Atlantic Review points out that the new man in the American embassy is a board member of the U.S. Soccer Foundation, which sounds like he might enjoy a smooth start in Berlin.

As the global economic crisis questions many long-hold beliefs about American and European economic policy, the U.S. press has discovered that some answers might be found across the Atlantic. Germany offers a fine case study for the advantages as well as drawbacks of increased government interference to bring the economy back on track.

Here is the Wall Street Journal’s take on the social security net in the U.S. and Germany, embodied in two workers who have to face the economic downturn. The German worker, upon loosing his factory job, decides not to cancel his vacation in Cyprus, because his income will be secure. His American counterpart has to evaluate his complete budget to find out where to make cuts. The article is an informative read, well backed up with statistics.

Atlantic Review, in reaction to the WSJ article, points out that while the American system offers a more flexible labor market, that makes sure the economy can bounce back fast after a recession, the German system creates less panic during the recession. The question is, in which system do we want to live?

TIME Magazine has devoted the cover of its European issue to answer “What Germany got for Its $2 Trillion.” The main example is Halle, a town that has been successful in stimulating industry and job growth with money from the reunification fund, even if success simply means loosing less jobs and population than other former industrial centers of the GDR. There are three lessons for the U.S. to be drawn from Germany’s attempt to spend its way out of a major economic slump:

“[T]hrowing money at an economic meltdown isn’t a cure-all.” Two decades after the fall of the wall, former East Germany still lacks behind economically. 20% of the German population live here, but the region accounts for over 30% of Germany’s unemployed.

“[B]ig spending packages don’t work if the economic policies underlying them are miscued.” The decision by Chancellor Helmut Kohl to exchange West and East German currency 1:1 sabotaged the competitiveness of East German industries.

“[S]pending so much money in such a short time is bound to be wasteful.” This one is a no-brainer. Try getting a year’s worth of shopping done in one day. Then see how much of the stuff you bought you will actually need. Chances are, you got yourself a Cargolifter.

What can the U.S. draw from this? Mainly that expectations for the American stimulus package should not be too high. There will be failure. Also, failing fiscal policy can partly be blamed on monetary policy not being in step. Ideally, the two should be carried out in unison.

At the same time, the discussion about culture as the determing factor for fiscal policy is still raging on. Phillip Stevens at the British Financial Times thinks that Europe’s reaction to the crisis is fearful. His main point is that the stimulus needs to be bigger, but he also argues that “Americans are happy to take risks while Europeans strive to avoid them. This is as often reflected in their respective economic performances during good times as in their reactions at moments of crisis. Gamble-everything entrepreneurs are much more likely to be found on the US side of the Atlantic.”

At the same time, Roger Cohen, reporting actually from Germany, thinks the opposite. Writing in German in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, he has recently proclaimed that German Angst is over. Looking at the traumatic 20th century, the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s will not cause mass panic with Germans, Cohen concludes. In fact, the Americans are the ones who are shuddering now, while they witness the American empire falling apart.

As we have said before, the political process is a little more complicated than gross stereotypes like this one want to make you believe. Dear Mr. Stevens, if you want to make the point that the European stimulus needs to be bigger, focus on why the governments oppose your idea, and argue against them. Blaming it all on cultural differences is a logical shortcut that leads you off the track.

Justice David H. Souter has announced his retirement from the court. Rumor has it Souter wanted to retire after the Supreme Court had to decide Bush v. Gore in 2000, but waited until a Democratic President would be available to name his successor. All this after Souter had initially been named to the court in 1990 by George H.W. Bush, but, as the New York Times writes, “became one of the most reliable members of the court’s liberal wing”.

Now this opens up a great challenge for President Obama, and expectations are high: Will he add diversity to a mostly male, Harvard / Yale educated bench with little private practice experience and a geographic tilt to the Northeast? Will he choose a pragmatist over an ideological nominee? A woman, someone who is part of a minority?

With all the speculation and shortlists, thank God Fox News’ Foxnation.com is there to ask the really important question:

Why aren’t any white males considered for the Supreme Court?

Of course, Foxnation’s commentators can be relied on to tell us why this screaming injustice is allowed. Essentially, Barack Obama is a racist. (This is voiced by some posters, with a few lamenting the fact that Whites are called racist when they hate African-Americans, but not the other way around.)

Another poster argues that “Republicans and Conservatives are a minority”, too, and should therefore “sue the Administration for their place on the Surpreme Court”. While I admire this logic, I will also make sure to bookmark the post for the next time some pundit seeks to define the USA as “a center-right nation”. Others say white males always have to pay for the “lazy” parts of the population (women? Hispanics? African-Americans? all lazy?).

Some sane voices point to the fact that this is fabricated hysteria by Foxnation, or that  other posters “confuse minority with liberal.” But somehow, they’re still drowned in the senseless chatter around them.

I need to ponder all this input now, but will try to come up with a somewhat coherent answer to Foxnation’s question. Though I’m not sure that’s possible. Anyway, enjoy reading.

Update, May 5: The New York Times also has this fun interactive feature where you can say who you’d choose “If you were President…” My favorite suggestion so far: Bill Clinton.

One of the younger transatlantic blogs in the German blogosphere is USA Blogger. Since December 2008 the (so far) two-man show is online and offers well-researched articles—one link every three sentences—on American politics and transatlantic culture. In their self-introduction, the two bloggers describe their mission as the attempt to portray the complex and diverse cultural and social reality of the United States as it is today—a goal tapmag wholeheartedly supports.

tapmag: Who’s blogging on USA Blogger? What is your background, are you American, European, or both?

Thomas Furlong: I’m a British bloke who’s been living in Germany for the greater part of my life. I’m currently trying to wrap up my studies – I take American literature/history and African studies at Cologne University – but for the time being I’ve relocated to Berlin where I dabble in online marketing. I’ve been to the US a number of times, lived in upstate New York for a year and have generally always just been intrigued by the States.

Daniel Heise: I’m (just) a German, studying social sciences in Bochum, with an interest in politics and a continuing fascination with the U.S. ever since my exchange year in High School (Charlotte, NC).

Thomas: Oh, and of course we’re always looking for anyone who wants to help out and join the fray.

tapmag:  Which topics do you write about? Who do you write for?

Thomas: For the time being we’ve mostly taken to writing articles about subjects being bandied about in American public debate that haven’t received as much coverage over in Germany. And of course we’re still coming to terms with the new Obama administration. You know, the whole “well I’m glad he won, now where’s that pet unicorn he promised me” thing.

tapmag:  Why are you blogging? Why did you start in the first place?

Thomas: At some point we found we were spending far too much time on the phone having heated discussions about minutiae of American politics, so we thought it might be a nice idea to share our nerdiness with other people. Plus I find it helps me collect my thoughts and is a good way to bookmark articles for later reference. Everyone wins.

tapmag:  Soccer or Football?

Thomas:  Same thing. Love it. Big England and somewhat disgruntled Mönchengladbach supporter. When it comes to what Americans call football on the other hand I only really watch the Superbowl. But that’s a game I never miss. Really I’m more of a basketball guy when it comes to US sports.

Dan: Soccer for me (though just a bit). When it comes to US sports I barely watch or follow any, though I like some football and baseball. Sometimes.

tapmag:  What is your favorite article on USA Blogger? Which one is the most clicked?

Thomas: You know, the problem is that the articles I like most always seem to get read least. I’m pretty happy with my article on the future of the Republican Party (although Bobby Jindal’s crash ‘n’ burn Kenneth the page performance may have impacted his chances for 2012) but the one that gets the most traffic by far is my article on the conspiracy theories surrounding Obama’s birthplace – most of which seems to comprise exactly the kind of nutters I was trying to debunk.

Dan: My favorite would be about the Minnesota recount, written after watching hours of people looking at paper (….members say Aye…..Aye!) and giving me a small reason to having watched that. To protect my sanity, I should have stopped after a couple of minutes, though.

tapmag:  Jesus or Obama?

Thomas: What, they’re not the same person?

Dan: You shouldn’t compare Obama to a convicted felon. I’m going for hope

tapmag:  What question would you have liked to answer? And what would be your answer to it?

Dan:
Q: Is it true that you are omnipotent?
A: No, but thanks for asking.

Thomas: Speak for yourself, man.

tapmag:  Tatort or The Wire?

Thomas: The Wire, hands down.

Dan: The latter is on my to-watch list.

tapmag:  Your favorite blog?

Thomas: I have far too many of the pesky things in my RSS reader, but if I have to pick one, my shout-out for the past year definitely has to go to Numberz Nate at FiveThirtyEight.com.

Dan: Have to agree there, checked it a couple of times each day at high times, which should keep me away from polls until the midterms.

tapmag: Thanks.

You can find all blog posts of this series on transatlantic blogs here.

It is highly recommended reading for everyone trying to keep up with transatlantic culture, global politics, and European and American perceptions of the significant other. Edited by a three men team, including an alumnus of the Free University of Berlin, Atlantic Review has drawn a sizeable audience, as evidenced by the lively discussion surrounding each post in the comments.

tapmag: Who’s blogging on Atlantic Review? What is your background, are you American, European, or both?

Joerg: One American (Kyle Atwell, California) and two Europeans (Nanne Zwagerman, Netherlands and Joerg Wolf, Germany)

tapmag: Which topics do you write about? Who do you write for?

Joerg: All things transatlantic, but especially security issues (NATO, Afghanistan, Russia) and US commentaries on European policies and what Europeans say about the US.

Nanne: We don’t have a detailed concept of a target audience. We write for anyone who is interested in transatlantic relations. I think the blog does a good job of staying accessible but also a bit serious, and I know we have a lot of interesting readers.

tapmag: Why are you blogging? Why did you start in the first place?

Joerg: To promote critical, but fair analysis about the United States and Europe, which is needed to strengthen transatlantic relations in the 21^st century.

tapmag: Soccer or Football?

Joerg: Soccer.

Nanne: Snooker for watching, pool for playing.

tapmag: Which one is your favorite article on “Atlantic Review”? Which one is the most clicked?

Nanne: Our top two posts are about murder rates in the US vs. Germany and a youtube video from the EU that shows European sex. This only shows what people who come to us through search engines care about.

Our third most clicked post is also one of my favourites, and that’s a detailed post about how a German passenger was defamed in the ‘United 93’ movie. This is about addressing stereotypes that exist on both sides of the Atlantic, which is also an important part of what the Atlantic Review has done.

tapmag: Jesus or Obama?

Joerg: Nope, Forrest Gump it is.

Nanne: You’re sure you don’t mean Senator Fulbright, Joerg?

tapmag: Which question would you have liked to answer?

Nanne: Can German bands rock?

Joerg: Can the Dutch win in soccer?

tapmag: Tatort or The Wire?

Joerg: Neither for me.

Nanne: I haven’t watched The Wire.

tapmag: What is your favorite blog?

Nanne: talkingpointsmemo.com by Joshua Micah Marshall & team. This is actually the first blog I started reading, which was in 2003. It’s an example of how far you can take blogging and one of the best sources on DC politics.

Joerg: Tapmag, of course. There are so many blogs that I like for different topics and moods. Here are some of them: New Atlanticist, The Moderate Voice, USA Erklärt, Lifehacker.

tapmag: Thanks.

You can find all blog posts of this series on transatlantic blogs here.