Laughing Off the Brouhaha

The rift in US-German relations sparks a bit of worry but a lot more humor

For German comedians (and there are a few, you know), the rift in German-American relations has been a godsend. Topic #1, all week long. Harald Schmidt, who hosts a late night talk show he freely admits is a rip-off of David Letterman's format, spent the opening segment one night putting together a "care package" for the US. He stuffed it with American goods Germans have enjoyed over the years -- a hamburger, an "I [heart] NY" sticker and so on -- and a letter.

"Dear American people," he dictated in English to a sidekick on the air. "Sorry!" A round of laughter and applause, followed by the biggest laugh for the line, "Our friendship is as deep as the throat of Monica Lewinsky." Ba-da-boom.

On Fritz, a Berlin radio station, DJs sardonically worried out loud that if the Americans leave, taking their military and their McDonald's, their Britney Spears and Hollywood movies with them, Germans would be left behind in an utter cultural vacuum. And in reaction to a recent snarky quote from the White House, the faux infotainment program Freitag Nacht News joked, "It's time to return the favor the Americans granted us in 1945. We should 'liberate' them from their 'dictatorship'."

And so on. But the Germans wouldn't be Germans if there weren't some serious hand-wringing going on as well, from this week's cover package in Der Spiegel to the editorial and even front pages of the papers. If Chancellor Schröder's insistence that Germany would not be participating in a war on Iraq sticks (see Regime Change? Nein, Danke), will this lead not only to sparks between Berlin and Washington but also to complete political isolation? British PM Tony Blair's warm mid-week reception of Schröder suggests not.

If not politically, how about economically? Schröder's challenger in the recent election, Edmund Stoiber, argued that Germany's export-driven economy would falter, and sure enough, the pro-US British Daily Telegraph reports on signs of a "boycott" of German products brewing in the States. The examples and the quotes the story builds on, however, seem pretty spotty.

Unless these lone cancellations of orders for BMWs and bottles of Riesling snowball into something to be taken seriously, we'll continue to be treated to a most unusual spectacle: The Germans are being singled out for criticism and enjoying it.

Elsewhere

The Guardian has seemed fascinated with the implications of the US-German rift all week long. Two pieces stand out: Martin Kettle wonders why Al Gore can get away with what ex-Justice Minister Däubler-Gmelin couldn't; and Hywel Williams argues that Schröder's "opposition to the American imperial adventurism has brought into focus a strong German identity -- one which serves peace not war."