Barack Obama to present Merkel's book 'Freedom' in the US

Both left office years ago, but they have left their mark on global politics. Angela Merkel was once the most powerful woman in the world, while Barack Obama was the world's most powerful person.

Is there such a thing as friendship among sitting leaders whose primary responsibility is to serve the interests of their respective countries? Apparently so. Obama's presidency from 2009 to 2017 was framed, so to speak, by Merkel's 16 years as chancellor from 2005 to 2021, and a strong bond developed between the two. So much so that, toward the end of his term in office, Obama described Merkel as his closest ally.

It began with the cold shoulder — from both sides

It wasn't always that way. Many Germans rejoiced when Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, but Angela Merkel snubbed him in the summer of that year, while Obama was still only a candidate, by refusing to allow him to use the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop for his speech during a visit to Berlin.

Obama had to relocate to the square in front of the Victory Column, where around 200,000 people greeted him in a scene reminiscent of John F. Kennedy's iconic visit to West Berlin in 1963.

With the Iraq war in 2003, George W. Bush had driven a wedge between the US and some European allies. Germany, then led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), was opposed to the war. Merkel, however, had sided with Bush as leader of the opposition.

Obama avoided Berlin in 2009, his first year in office, despite making two visits to Germany. This was interpreted as an affront, and relations between Merkel and Obama remained cool. There were concrete political reasons for this, most notably Germany's decision to abstain from the 2011 UN decision to take military action in the Libyan civil war.

But that was not the only reason. Even back then, Washington was urging its German ally to invest more in its defense and claiming that Germany's trade surplus was too high — rhetoric that escalated significantly under Donald Trump.

Spying on friends

Yet despite — or perhaps because of — these disputes, Obama awarded Chancellor Merkel the Medal of Freedom in 2011, the highest honor that the US can bestow on a foreigner. Was it a gesture of reconciliation, an appeal for more responsibility? Commentators drew both conclusions at the time.

In 2013, Obama finally got his Berlin stage at the Brandenburg Gate. He and Merkel put their hands on each other's shoulders in a show of unity. However, tensions escalated again when the extent of the National Security Agency's spying on Germany was revealed.

In October of that year, it came to light that the NSA had even tapped the chancellor's cell phone. Merkel was furious and made what would become one of her most famous statements: "Spying on friends, that's not acceptable." But there were no major political consequences.

Obama praises Merkel's refugee policy

The longer Merkel and Obama were in office, the more they seemed to grow closer politically and personally. Peter Beyer, a member of Merkel's conservative CDU party, once told DW that Obama especially admired Merkel's "pragmatism, reliability, and professionalism."

As Germany's political and economic clout grew, he could no longer ignore the chancellor.

The G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria in the summer of 2015 was the site of perhaps the most famous photo of the two: Obama sitting with outstretched arms on a bench, while Merkel appears to be explaining something to him, with the Alpine panorama behind her.

Politically, they had much in common. But how well did they complement each other? "They are very different types," said Beyer. "Obama is a brilliant orator, he reaches out to people. Merkel gets to the point in just a few words, she's not a great speaker, she doesn't sweep people away with enthusiasm." But both appreciated each other because they complemented each other.

A few weeks after the G7 summit, Merkel decided not to close the German border to refugees. The step, which polarized Germany perhaps more than any other decision she made, was praised by Obama: Merkel had "eloquently reminded us that we cannot turn our backs on our fellow human beings who are here now, and need our help now."

Donald Trump on Angela Merkel

Then came Donald Trump in 2017. During the 2016 election campaign, the Republican called his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton "America's Angela Merkel" as a pejorative term, and claimed that Clinton also wanted to implement Merkel's "crazy" refugee policy in the US.

With the election of Trump, the US appeared to have changed from Germany's ally to its adversary in key policy areas: Free trade, climate protection, and how to deal with refugees.

On a meeting with Trump on March 17, 2017, Merkel wrote in her new memoir: "We talked on two different levels. Trump on the emotional level, I on the factual level ... Whenever he did pay attention to my arguments, it was usually only in order to use them to make new accusations. He didn't seem to be interested in solving the problems I raised."

It is perhaps ironic that Merkel's book is being published just as Trump is about to take office for his second term — and it seems to be a show of defiance that Merkel wanted Obama to attend the US launch.

Obama's memoir, "A Promised Land," was published four years ago, in November 2020. The thousand-page tome sold well around the world. Merkel's 700-page book, "Freedom," will be published in more than 30 languages, and international interest appears to be high.

She plans to launch the English-language edition together with Obama at the Anthem Theater in Washington DC on December 2. Angela Merkel could not wish for a better publicity partner.

This article was originally written in German.

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