The U.S. Politics of the Eurocrisis
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Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
To secure his own reelection, Obama has to persuade Merkel to keep footing the euro bill at least until his own reelection is assured in November. Obama is fortunate that Merkel is a staunch believer in European integration and seems prepared to continue the present policies, even in disregard of her own rising unpopularity among the German electorate.
Last Thursday, however, Merkel warned that Germany is not strong enough to prop up the rest of Europe. “Germany’s strength is not infinite. Its powers are not unlimited,” she said in a speech delivered in the Bundestag, the German Parliament, but meant for her colleagues of the G-20 and especially for Barack Obama. Merkel wants the G-20 to help the Germans prop up the collapsing economies of the European periphery. “It is a herculean task, but it is unavoidable,” she said, but hinted that Germany cannot continue to do it on its own.
Consequently, if Obama and other world leaders want Merkel to keep propping up the euro with German taxpayers’ money, they will have to share some of the burden. Soon, the world will have to come to the rescue of Europe, and help to bail out the eurozone. Merkel knows that Obama needs reelection in November and that, if she wants to be successful in her effort to persuade America to assist her in her euro rescue effort, she needs to do it now. Until November, the euro’s problems are Obama’s problems, too.
Originally published by Gatestone Institute http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org
tell a friendAbout the Author: Peter Martino is a European affairs columnist for the Gatestone Institute.
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