Sitting tight
January 23, 2012
Since hitting its stride in December, the opposition's call for Wulff to step down over a scandal involving an undisclosed private loan has not gone away.
But nor has he.
Wulff, like many German politicians before him, has refused to resign. It seems he will sit tight until the electorate can no longer remember what all the fuss was about in the first place.
No matter how harsh the criticism, or how pointed the opinion pieces in the media, Wulff has shown himself determined to join a long line of German politicians who have beaten scandals by defending themselves in a relaxed manner, playing down the affair, and just quietly sitting it out.
In "good" company
Manfred Stolpe is widely considered the master of the craft.
The former federal transport minister managed to sit tight for almost three years, while waiting for a scandal to blow over when he was premier of the state of Brandenburg.
"It was an unusually long time," said historian Michael Philipp, who has written about the scandals and resignations of 250 German politicians.
"From early 1992, when all the talk began about his past in the Stasi (the East German secret police) until the end of 1994, Stolpe survived all demands for a resignation, investigations, broken coalitions and the resignations of other ministers," said Philipp. "Nothing could rattle him."
Ignoring media reports is always a good first step, he added, and the ongoing support from the politician's party is vital.
"The party will simply ask itself whether there's a possibility that the politician will harm its chances at the next election or whether they can still be of use," said Philipp. "As long as there's no threat to the next election, the party will keep its candidate in office."
It's all about networks
But that means a politician's survival is largely out of their control. It is far more up to the party and the network of supporters that they will have set up years before.
"Politicians tend to have experience in defeat. They wouldn't get very far without it," said political psychologist Thomas Kliche. "And they also have to feel that they can rely on their network of supporters when they run into problems."
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl perfected the art.
He survived a number of crises over many years that would have easily defeated other politicians - including a slush-fund affair.
But Kohl was seen as a guarantee for victories on election-day, and his party network was second to none. It made him virtually untouchable and also protected those politicians whom Kohl favored himself.
The internet has changed nothing
In 1984, Manfred Wörner showed equally good survival instincts as defense minister during the Kiessling Affair.
Wörner had classified the four-star General Günter Kiessling a security risk, alleging he was gay. Wörner believed the General's sexuality made him vulnerable to blackmail and sent him without notice into retirement.
It was a scandal - but one without consequence.
"The parliamentary session had only just begun, so Chancellor Kohl banked on the electorate forgetting about the scandal by the next election," said historian Philipp. "Kohl saw no threat, and he was right."
Since then, the strategy has hardly changed - even in the age of the Internet. Politicians still know how to ignore negative press and how to play the waiting game.
"The Internet has increased the frequency of news, forcing politicians to be even tougher, but the basic principle has been the same for decades," said Philipp.
In fact in some cases, the heightened pressure can tend to meld with the day to day running of the job, so that the scandal is hardly noticed.
"Generally leaders feel that they are successful, and success changes people. They believe they can do anything," said psychologist Kliche. "And they know they're public figures, so it's 'business as usual' - but just a bit more so."
National differences
What counts as a political scandal varies from country to country, experts say.
Historian Philipp believes Italian politicians can endure many more scandals than the Germans, since the Italian media works differently than in Germany and people might be more tolerant.
And he added that Germans also have a tendency to make scandals of situations that people would laugh about in other countries.
But the British are far more accustomed to politicians resigning - it happens more often than elsewhere, and faster.
If the accusations are valid and true, says Philipp, the politician should go, without regard for their emotional state.
"When they go, they take the stain of the scandal with them, and the office itself is protected," said Philipp. "But if they stay, despite justified criticism, they add to a country's sense of political apathy."
Author: Klaus Jansen / za
Editor: Kyle James