The flood in western Germany brought severe suffering to the people living there.
Dozens, including helpers, drowned.
Hundreds have lost their homes, thousands have livelihood problems.
It is good and right that high-ranking politicians on the spot promise quick help to those in despair.
In such disasters, citizens must be able to rely on the solidarity of society and the saving hand of the state.
The extent of the destruction also demands a great deal from its staff and institutions, especially those who are close to people.
Slipping in the mud of the tides
The parties also claim this for themselves, especially during the election campaign. But even as a candidate, it's easy to slip in the mud of the flood. Too many photos in rubber boots raise the suspicion that the politician in boots was wearing them primarily for the sake of publicity. If he keeps the holiday sandals on for too long, like Stoiber in his time, it is said that he is indifferent to people's misfortunes. Laschet, Scholz and Baerbock cannot be reproached either for one or the other. Unlike the Green MP Konstantin von Notz, none of them succumbed to the temptation to use the images of the flood to criticize the policies of the other parties. Notz also withdrew his “polemical tweet”.
But one should not believe that the devastating floods will have no impact on the further course of the election campaign and possibly the outcome of the election. It was not a Green man, but Horst Seehofer, who said that nobody could seriously doubt that this catastrophe was related to climate change. The first climate party, however, is and will remain the Greens, even if almost everyone else competes with them for this title. Laschet as prime minister and to a lesser extent Scholz as finance minister can now also make a name for themselves as a crisis manager. Baerbock, on the other hand, has to hope that her plagiarism affair, which cost her so many percentage points, has been swept over by the floods.