Ex-Chancellor’s Memoirs: “She’s all about facts” – Obama praises Merkel in Washington

“Nice and friendly” but “reserved”: This is how former US President Barack Obama describes Angela Merkel. “I would say you’re not necessarily an extroverted person,” the 63-year-old said jokingly to the former German Chancellor. At an event in the US capital Washington, the two talk about Merkel’s memoirs – and their relationship with each other. There is a lot of laughter on the big stage in Washington – and old misunderstandings are cleared up. But not everything is discussed.

The former CDU chairwoman presented her memoirs entitled “Freedom. Memories 1954 – 2021” last week. Now she has traveled to the USA and none other than Obama, who was US President from 2009 to 2017, is now peppering the 70-year-old with questions in front of a sold-out audience. Two armchairs, two small tables – Merkel in the classic white blazer, Obama in a dark suit: This is what the stage on which big bands usually play looks like.

Merkel and Obama demonstrate unity

The former chancellor speaks in German – her answers are translated into English. “You should know that your English is excellent and that we never use translators,” Obama praised the former chancellor. But she is a very precise person.

Merkel and Obama – their relationship was never completely untroubled while both were in power in their respective countries. Looking back, it looks completely different – both show off their great bond. A few months after she left the Chancellery, Merkel and Obama visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. Now it’s being discussed on stage in the US capital what started a relationship that wasn’t entirely easy.

The damn speech in Berlin

As a campaigner in 2008, Obama wanted to speak at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin – but was not allowed. He had to move to the nearby Victory Column. “I think Angela rightly wanted to make sure that one or the other candidate wasn’t favored. And so some of the sights were forbidden,” says the Democrat with a wink – and uses the German word “forbidden”. After his election victory, Merkel wasn’t sure whether he was angry about it. “I really wasn’t, but she was always worried that I was angry.”

Now Merkel also wants to present her view of things – also with a wink. The Brandenburg Gate is a symbolic and important place for the Germans, she describes. If she had allowed candidate Obama to speak there, who would have been next? But everyone loved Obama – and claimed that they only feared Obama’s popularity and oratorical skills. In the end he wasn’t angry and we got along well. During his first visit as president in the summer of 2013, Obama was finally allowed to speak at the Brandenburg Gate.

Not always just good weather

But even when it comes to more serious issues such as dealing with the financial crisis, Obama says the approach was always collegial. You never raised your voice, but sometimes you frowned, he jokes. Merkel also says that it wasn’t always all sunshine and roses. What the two of them don’t talk about at their joint appearance in Washington: In 2013 it became known that the US secret service NSA had been spying on Merkel’s cell phone for years. “Spying on friends is not possible,” Merkel said angrily at the time.

Merkel and Obama come from different worlds. The former US president spent his youth in Hawaii and Indonesia, studied at Harvard, and was a social worker and civil rights lawyer in the metropolis of Chicago. Merkel was born in Hamburg, grew up in the GDR, became a natural scientist – and then finally entered politics. But they have something important in common: they were both the first. When she was elected in 2005, Merkel was Germany’s first female chancellor. Obama was the first black US president after his election in 2008.

Merkel talks about glass ceiling

And so Obama is curious – she asks what it was like in the GDR back then. She speaks of a happy childhood – even though she lived under a dictatorship. In the West, says Merkel, people don’t always understand this. And then Obama wants to know what significance her being a woman had in power. “I’m thinking about it now because I have two daughters who obviously have a good role model in their mother,” he says.

Merkel says that she was initially quite naive – but quickly realized that there was a glass ceiling in politics. When she ran for chancellor, there were reservations. There was no experience with women in this position. By the way, this is still the case in the USA, the ex-Chancellor notes. You have to hope for the future. The Democrat Kamala Harris lost in the US election a few weeks ago to the Republican Donald Trump, who is not directly mentioned on stage in Washington.

Obama: Merkel is concerned with facts

Merkel goes on to say that she sometimes had an advantage on the international stage. With her colorful blazers she was often a splash of color among all the gray jackets. But it wasn’t that easy to get there. The former chancellor says one of her gifts is never doing anything that you don’t fully understand – always maintaining some modesty – and still being courageous and ambitious. Obama says of the former chancellor: “She’s more of a scientist, it’s about facts and analysis.”

In the end, the peaceful coexistence between Obama and Merkel is disturbed by a screaming spectator who repeatedly interrupts the ex-president. He has a lesson in democracy and respect ready: “The people have come to listen to Angela Merkel and not to you, young woman. You can organize your own event.”