A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

It appears to be official and this article informs me that Angela Merkel should not be taken for granted since she is a "learning machine" and since she plays the long game. Well . . . okay, but when you squander an electoral lead as big as the one she started out with and when you are very nearly outclassed in the negotiations over the creation of a new government, it isn't exactly a performance that inspires confidence.

It is good news that Edmund Stoiber (a.k.a. "The Person Who Should Be Chancellor Since He Would Have A Fighting Chance Of Doing Well In Electoral Contests") will be the economics minister. It is bad news that he will have almost no running room whatsoever to enact much needed economic reforms.

I ask anew: What was the point of the German elections? The losers turned out to be winners in terms of representation in the ministerial lineup and in terms of dictating policy. The winners are only winners in name and in possession of what increasingly seems to be a worthless chancellery.

(Cross posted on Red State.)