Steinmeier's second term: President of the majority

Frank-Walter Steinmeier's second election as President of the Federal Republic of Germany went as smoothly as his first.

Again he was elected on the first ballot, again by an overwhelming majority.

That was no surprise.

The parties in the governing coalition spoke out in favor of Steinmeier's re-election, and the Union also acknowledged his "high domestic political recognition" and "particular foreign policy competence".

Steinmeier did not need to fear the candidates supported by the Left Party and the AfD.

Not even the candidate of the “free voters”, although the call that Germany must finally get a female president has been heard for a long time (“Woman instead of Rau”).

Steinmeier would only have had to reckon with a competitor who could have been expected in a second or even third ballot if the Union had won the federal election and needed a wedding present for the Greens.

After the election debacle, however, the CDU in particular was so exhausted and preoccupied with itself that it gave up looking for a candidate in order to send her into an ultimately hopeless race against the popular Steinmeier.

Not everyone is a jerk

The CDU and CSU would then have had to find a reason why they no longer wanted a president they voted for in 2017, albeit out of embarrassment back then.

It is true that some in the Union think, not entirely wrongly, that Steinmeier's social democratic origins shine through every now and then.

But only in the ranks of the AfD was there a member of parliament who insulted him as a "splitter and agitator" and "the worst federal president of all time".

That was the tit-for-tat for Steinmeier holding up the mirror again and again to the actual haters and agitators in parliament, on the streets and on the internet, which then inevitably shows drooling faces.

Anyone who sees the will to split in Steinmeier will certainly also consider Putin to be an angel of peace.

Steinmeier considers it one of his most important tasks to counteract the centrifugal forces in politics and society.

He has expressed his concern about the radicalization of the dispute in Germany and the fading of history's lessons so often that the impact of his speeches threatens to diminish among those who should be listening particularly well.

Steinmeier's benevolent critics, on the other hand, are still hoping for a sentence that could hang over his presidency, such as the "Day of Liberation" over von Weizsäcker's, the "jerk" over Herzog's or "Islam is now also part of Germany" over Wulff's short term in office .

A Federal President who wants to make the citizens think about things that have not yet been heard is walking a fine line, as not only the last-mentioned example shows.

Not everyone is a jerk.

Golden rule of measure and mean

The Basic Law also does not require the Federal President to be some kind of political sole entertainer.

It is not the head of state who is responsible for the “boom” in German politics, but the Federal Chancellor.

In the constitutional structure, the Federal President stands for a view of the big picture, for impartiality and for stability – which is never a matter of course.

Two resignations and discussions about the dignity of the office revealed that even at the top, the state can face shocks.

Steinmeier is only the fifth of twelve Federal Presidents to serve a second term.

She is the more difficult one.

Steinmeier cannot and does not want to completely reinvent itself.

Luckily, government (education) crises like in 2017, when he had to remind the SPD of their state-political responsibility, don't happen often.

So what's left for him?

To provide services that should not be underestimated: having an open ear for the needs and fears of the citizens, giving courage, building bridges, being the voice of those who are not heard and of the silent, including those who no longer feel represented by the parties .

The people should not only be able to recognize the admonisher in their Federal President, but also the understander.

In their plan to rebuild the republic, the SPD and the Greens are so fixated on all kinds of minorities that they lose sight of what's on the minds of the many citizens who think they don't need minority protection, but meanwhile majority protection.

The Federal President must also and especially be the President of these citizens.

The traffic light coalition will often have to be reminded of the golden rule of measure and middle.

Who would be called upon to do this if not the Federal President?