Party conference with Olaf Scholz: The SPD is only on autopilot

On the surface, it was a decent party conference for the Chancellor. No Social Democrat rebelled, no one jumped up to unroll a Boris Pistorius poster, and Olaf Scholz didn’t get a bag of paint either. But what was also missing in the Berlin “CityCube”: a jolt.

During his appearance, the Chancellor spent a good 50 minutes reciting what was bad about his opponents and what was good about his plan. Higher wages and stable pensions, more money for investments and prudence in foreign policy. The election for the candidate for chancellor was similarly routine: card sign, almost one hundred percent, hallelujah. A party is on autopilot heading towards election victory or towards collapse. The latter is more likely.

Six weeks before the election, Scholz has no promising power option beyond the grand coalition. He cannot sell his own term in office as a success because of the traffic light break. And the economic misery may have many causes – but it goes home with the boss. So far, so known. Two other problems are even more important.

Firstly, Scholz lacks a language that captures the spirit of the times. Politics is made for “normal people,” the Chancellor repeated like a mantra in his speech. That’s not a bad sentence, it just makes you wonder why he doesn’t speak like normal people.

Scholz is not Gerhard Schröder, and one should not try to fight populism with populism. But on all topics – from migration to the economy to the grotesque wealth gap in this country – there are countless opportunities to add a pinch of common sense rhetorically. Because this is almost completely missing from Scholz, the well-intentioned mantra of making politics for ordinary people seems as if he doesn’t even include himself in it. One almost has the impression that Olaf is greeting “the people” from far away. Can you win an election like this?

Secondly, Scholz is missing a project, a big, progressive plan, as banal as that sounds. The Chancellor wants to prevent the worst, Friedrich Merz, the return of neoliberal coldness, falling pensions. We understand that much now. But to win an election, it’s not enough to run against something. Political energy arises when there is an idea that you are passionate about.

Scholz has ideas, a lot of them, so many that there is something for everyone. But is it enough to act like Olaf in a world whose basic order is currently being shaken? The fact that the SPD, and actually all democratic parties, are leaving it to the extremists to stand for big change, for turning points and a break with usual rituals, is already the drama of this election campaign. The populist opponents’ despondency comes from every pore.

The experience of the past few years has shown that you should never rule anything out politically. Scholz has already achieved a miracle once. A lot can still happen in the remaining six weeks. Russia and Ukraine may be resting their weapons. Donald Trump may also be threatening Europe with his madness. And of course a serious faux pas can never be ruled out with Friedrich Merz, especially not now when he seems so insecure, as if he just wanted to somehow save his lead to the finish. But the SPD is now dependent on external support.

Because if this party conference has shown one thing, it is that your own strength will hardly be enough to win this election.