Berlin

The final campaign rally of the Social Democratic party (SPD) was impressive. More than a thousand people gathered at Pariser Platz, waving red banners and posters that said things like "We Are for Frank" (referring to the party's candidate for chancellor, Frank-Walter Steinmeier) and "Bankers Would Vote for Merkel" (as in Christian Democratic chancellor Angela Merkel). A stage had been erected directly beneath the Brandenburg Gate and the sun was setting behind it. The weather could not have been any better--mild and sunny. (Such weather has a name: Kaiserwetter.)

There were musical acts. One band called Jazz Cantina specializes in transforming popular rock songs into jazz numbers. Their rendition of Van Halen's "Jump" defies description. There was a video montage showcasing German actors and other personalities praising Steinmeier. This was seemingly meant to convey that, as people like the American sociologist Norm Birnbaum and the actor who played Josef Goebbels in Downfall like Steinmeier, you should like him too.

When the candidate finally took the stage, he implored his supporters to come out and vote. He reminded everyone that his party was against the Iraq war and President Bush (who hasn't been president for some time, but so what). "The future is in our hands on the 27th of September," Steinmeier declared while sweating profusely. "And therefore I am telling you, two more days. This race, ladies and gentlemen, is again wide open. Everything is again wide open!" And although he didn't ask, "Where is the outrage?" he did say, "We need you!" Which they desperately did.

The most recent preelection polls had the Social Democrats below 30 percent, and when the election results came in the following Sunday evening, the SPD had received a mere 23 percent of the vote--its worst result since 1949. And while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party in Bavaria, the CSU (Christian Social Union), earned an unimpressive 33.8 percent, it was enough to govern thanks to its preferred coalition partner, the FDP (Free Democratic party), which ran on a pro-business platform of lower taxes and welfare reform and received a record 14.6 percent of the vote. As the headline in Die Handelsblatt put it, "The FDP Rescues Chancellor Merkel."

Yet the results do not mean a majority of Germans have decided to embrace free enterprise. While voters abandoned the SPD in droves--only 9 million Germans voted for the Social Democrats, down from 18 million in 2002--they didn't necessarily all turn to the right. According to an Infratest dimap poll, 2 million traditional SPD voters simply stayed home. Another 1.1 million turned to Die Linke, a recently formed far left party composed of leftist radicals, disenchanted Social Democrats, and former Communists, which won 11.9 percent of the vote, primarily in tahe east. In the state of Brandenburg, 27.2 percent of the populace voted for Die Linke despite eight of its candidates' being former Stasi informants. (In case you are wondering, Afghanistan was a nonissue in the election--though Die Linke was demanding immediate withdrawal--in part because the old government's foreign minister was Steinmeier of the SPD. Approximately 4,800 Bundeswehr soldiers are currently stationed in northern Afghanistan--the third largest deployment in that country--and troop strength may even increase to 7,000 depending on reauthorization.)

According to one poll, 67 percent of traditional SPD supporters consider their party to have betrayed its principles (one of which is "social justice," though a German pollster told me he still isn't quite sure what the phrase actually means). The sense of betrayal dates back to the days when former chancellor Gerhard Schröder advocated a series of domestic reforms called Agenda 2010. It was akin to President Clinton's signing the 1996 welfare reform bill.