One of the original ideas is watching Olaf Scholz perform a little dance on the Tiktok video portal.

Nonsense?

Well, that's what Steffen Hebestreit announced five months ago when he took over as government spokesman.

Scholz sat across from him in the Federal Press Office and his close confidante Hebestreit said: "I can promise the Chancellor that he will dance Tiktok soon if we decide that together." However, he immediately added that the Chancellor's facial expression gave him an idea of ​​it there will be further discussions about this.

After all: an interview by Scholz in the video portal, which is mainly made for young people, can be found with just a few clicks.

Eckhart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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The Chancellor has responded to the question “Where is Scholz?”, which has been asked frequently since he took office last December, with an increasingly intensive media presence, appearances in the Bundestag and trips with journalists.

Still, he doesn't come across as a leader to many.

Rather, in the debate over Germany's role in dealing with Russia's attack on Ukraine, there are accusations that he is a procrastinator.

On the one hand, the Federal Chancellor makes no secret of the fact that he only wants to act in close cooperation with his partners and in no way wants to march forward alone.

This creates the image of hesitation.

On the other hand, a look at the line of the SPD up to the outbreak of the war is enough to come to the conclusion that Scholz has made a significant change of course within a very short time: the sanctions against Russia are being extended more and more and have long been effective in the energy sector , the defense budget is being increased enormously, and more and heavier weapons are being supplied to Ukraine.

In the end one could even imagine that at some point German-made main battle tanks would be used, provided they drive alongside American Abrams.

So why is it that Scholz is considered hesitant, but a politician like the Green Economics Minister Robert Habeck comes along as a leader, at least as a great communicator, although both are on the same page in terms of content?

Scholz often takes a long time before it becomes clear.

He made it clear early on, but cautiously, that he thought Ukraine's refusal to receive Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv in mid-April was wrong.

But it was not until Monday that he said clearly on ZDF in front of an audience of millions that he, Scholz, would not be traveling to the Ukrainian capital for that reason.

Scholz is not a stage talent

In a long interview with the magazine "journalist", his spokesman Hebestreit explained that sometimes it is necessary to "announce concrete targets" in order to create the necessary political momentum.

Scholz does that “relatively rarely”.

When he does it, it's all the more noticeable.

Scholz is not a stage talent, which not only makes him different from Habeck.

His short stature and soft voice doesn't always help in a world of public appearances and images.

If he speaks a little louder, like at the weekend when he had to be heard at a rally against disturbers, that's worth a separate mention in the news.

Scholz' speech in the Bundestag three days after the outbreak of war was a sensation in terms of content.

But the chancellor read the text as soberly as ever.

Even those who recognize his achievements in terms of content repeatedly criticize the Chancellor's appearance: there are problems with communication, Scholz cannot convey his message, others are better in this discipline.

And so forth.

Does that harm him?

In any case, Hebestreit explained that he and his deputies had agreed to communicate "even more transparently, more explanatory and more comprehensively".

Because the government "doesn't just want to broadcast", Scholz allows himself to be "questioned and questioned" more often than his predecessor Angela Merkel on television.

This indicates that his people at Scholz also see room for improvement in this regard.

However, the government spokesman also makes it clear where the limits are: "If you tried to make the chancellor a Barack Obama in terms of communication,

It goes without saying that it helps if a chancellor can explain his actions well.

But do you have to be a great speaker?

Angela Merkel has also been accused of not explaining her politics well.

This was particularly noticeable in refugee policy.

She has often tried to explain her behavior, especially in 2015, in the Bundestag or in interviews.

In the end, the sentence "We can do it", which she said more by accident in a press conference, stuck.

Of course, that wasn't enough for your critics.

As Chancellor, Merkel was just as unenthusiastic about appearing on the public stage as Scholz.

She took it as a necessary part of her job.

That was just part of political shaping.

So she was part of a certain tradition.

The chancellors with a very long term in office, such as Konrad Adenauer, Helmut Kohl and yourself, were not really talented on the stage.

Kohl was more impressive in a small circle than in a large one, as was Merkel.

That connects Scholz with them.

In small groups, dryness can fall off him, he can be committed and humorous.