Measured against the problems of the Frankfurt CDU in the face of several heavy election defeats and a difficult cash situation, the mood at the district party conference on Saturday was friendly, harmonious and as controversial as a class reunion.
One might rub one's eyes in astonishment.
Only a few months have passed since leading members hardly wanted to leave a stone unturned with relentless analyzes and calls for radical new beginnings.
But the revolt, which in the case of the CDU is only ever conceivable as a small revolt, is cancelled.
The overwhelming majority elected Uwe Becker as chairman, who has held the office before - and certainly creates many positive associations, but hardly any feeling of a new beginning.
Despite his clear victory against Bettina Wiesmann, he still has to generate that.
The former member of the Bundestag was probably able to make up ground in the end, but apparently did not credibly embody what she emphasized loudly in her speeches: that she was a good team player.
It is not enough just to refer to federal politics
Becker didn't have to make any contortions.
Anyone who asks around the party will not hear any complaints about their ability to work in a team.
The Secretary of State is presentable in many ways - especially in ordinary times.
But he has to provide answers as to how this party intends to win elections out of the crisis.
So far he has hardly given any answers - beyond general statements that were somewhat suspect in rhetoric.
The harmony covers up the fact that the CDU has a demographic problem, its members are not only dying away, but many potential supporters hardly come into contact with it.
The honorary chairman Udo Corts has attested to the party having a “severe cold” – it will pass, even without medication.
This is not an adequate picture.
The crisis is more fundamental, more structural, more chronic.
The complacency at this party conference, the shifting of blame for election defeats to the federal party, the mask affair or Armin Laschet's unfortunate laugh in the Ahr Valley in the middle of the election campaign, conceals the fact that even in Frankfurt it is not enough to just point to Berlin or Wiesbaden.
The party must now gather all its forces, popular and intellectual, men, women, immigrants, young and old.
In this respect, the new board is - with the exception of the hardly existing migrants - another glimmer of hope, nothing more.
He would do well not to drop Wiesmann, who was driven by content.
Your ideas will still be helpful in the future.