Zu Googleberg: Final chapter has just finished
Germany's defence minister, Karl-Theodore zu Guttenberg has just resigned (link is in English; a more detailed German version is also available). I have written at length about this affair ( 22 Feb, 21 Feb, 17 Feb).
A few snippets:
The heavyweight German weekly, Die Zeit brought out a satirical piece making fun of Guttenberg
About 23,000 academics handed over a strongly-worded open letter to the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, criticising Guttenberg and the fact that he remained in office.
Public opinion seems to have started to shift: last week a large majority of Germans wanted him to stay, but that had started changing by this week.
It's a great pity that it had to come to this: zu Guttenberg was in many respects a very good politician, and a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy political class. German politics will be the poorer for his departure. I can't help feeling that he has become a victim of his own hubris. A little more modesty and self-reflection could perhaps have prevented things going this far. Instead, he tried to brazen his way through with denial and arrogance. In the end, it's right that he has gone. Perhaps in a few years he will have managed to rehabilitate himself: he retains enough good qualities that he could plausibly stage a comeback if he makes it clear that he has managed to learn from the whole sorry episode.
A few snippets:
The heavyweight German weekly, Die Zeit brought out a satirical piece making fun of Guttenberg
About 23,000 academics handed over a strongly-worded open letter to the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, criticising Guttenberg and the fact that he remained in office.
Public opinion seems to have started to shift: last week a large majority of Germans wanted him to stay, but that had started changing by this week.
It's a great pity that it had to come to this: zu Guttenberg was in many respects a very good politician, and a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy political class. German politics will be the poorer for his departure. I can't help feeling that he has become a victim of his own hubris. A little more modesty and self-reflection could perhaps have prevented things going this far. Instead, he tried to brazen his way through with denial and arrogance. In the end, it's right that he has gone. Perhaps in a few years he will have managed to rehabilitate himself: he retains enough good qualities that he could plausibly stage a comeback if he makes it clear that he has managed to learn from the whole sorry episode.