Since September 26, the SPD has had a luxury problem, and not just for a 25 percent party.
Even the CDU and CSU have not been able to occupy as many high state offices as the oldest party in Germany for a long time: the Federal President is a Social Democrat, the Chancellor becomes a Social Democrat, and access to the office of the Bundestag President, which is the second highest in terms of protocol, is traditionally the strongest Parliamentary group in the German Bundestag.
But the pure political theory of colors has never been the only criterion according to which personnel decisions can be made. Since the Greens, the left and large sections of the Social Democrats set the goal of filling top positions, cabinets and list places with gender equality, the scope of action of all politicians, male and female, has been even more limited than at times when there were only all sorts of other proportions such as regional distributions and internal party trends had to be taken into account.
Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz was one of the first to experience this in the new legislative period.
Instead of taking the parliamentary group chairman Rolf Mützenich, who is far to the left in terms of domestic and foreign policy, from the coalition game with the office of President of the Bundestag and thus also having more leeway in compiling the list of ministers of the SPD, he had to bow to the pressure of women in the party and parliamentary group clear the way for a President of the Bundestag.
A grotesque picture
Indeed, it would be a grotesque picture if, after the withdrawal of Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, only men would be in the front row at national celebrations.
However, it does not shed a good light on the conditions within the Social Democratic parliamentary group that a member of parliament was chosen to succeed Wolfgang Schäuble (and Norbert Lammert and Rita Süssmuth), whose name hardly says anything even to experienced observers of Berlin's political life.
That does not speak against the integrity of the directly elected MP Bärbel Bas in Duisburg.
But it is an indication of how emaciated the SPD is in terms of personnel - a 25 percent party.
After the election defeat, the CDU, in turn, felt for the first time since 2005 what it means to have to manage a shortage.
Because of all state offices, only the post of Deputy President of the Bundestag is open to them.
At the same time, the Union also has a luxury problem in this case - for now.
Because in the parliamentary group there are two women ready with whom the party could at least at this point show that the men's alliance mentalities, which Angela Merkel is more concealed than opposed to, may have come to an end.
But the CDU would not be the CDU if men did not try to push their way back into the parliamentary group.
Whether they can be stopped, when for the top of the party and the parliamentary group, apparently only men come into question, should say a lot about what is called "future viability" in party German.