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Auch nur ein Mensch: Politiker und ihre Leidenschaften - und was sie uns über sie verraten - Ein SPIEGEL-Buch
Auch nur ein Mensch Politiker und ihre Leidenschaften und was sie uns über sie verraten Ein SPIEGEL Buch
288 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 12, 2022
All politics is staged, including the shows of relatability supposed to reveal the human side of the politician. Still, these portraits are enlightening – if only because they make the traits that constitute the politician in question stand out even more:
Markus Söder is by far the one most focused on his public image – assertively demanding how to be photographed and how little tennis can be played.
Christian Lindner is one of the smartest guys in politics, but paired with his tunnel vision based on personal success that makes him one of the more annoying people to be around. In that regard, he’s rather similar to Sahra Wagenknecht, just that Wagenknecht’s utter inability to connect with people has kept her from attaining the same kind of success.
Kevin Kühnert is probably as close as it gets to the “common person” in politics who’s entirely unbothered by any feelings of having to fit into a social sphere dominated by middle- and upper-middle-class people.
On the flip side, Gerhard Schröder is obsessed with being accepted by the dominant classes as one of them – and regards the tokens of his status as things he has earned and that he will defend if anyone wants to take them from him (hello, Gazprom board seat!).
Both Green politicians displayed (Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter) are unassuming, modest people whose disregard for power politics makes them charming just as much as it hinders their political success. Hofreiter’s almost obsessive soft spot for culinary enjoyments of all kinds (which contributes to the writer missing a flight on their first outing) is wildly comedic given that his party has the (undeserved) image of being averse to personal pleasures.
And Christian Wulff, well, has been done dirty – politically, as his not unpromising presidency ended early over a comparatively minor scandal, and personally, as his wife Bettina left him not once, but twice. As his portrait indicates that he’s alright with being (mostly) out of the limelight, and as (past the printing of this book) Bettina and he are back together for the third time, there’s hope for Wulff.
Mostly unremarkable: The very nice Lars Klingbeil, Philipp Amthor, always bordering on being a caricature of himself, and Julia Klöckner whose hobby is a mode of transport for which one can easily find a parking spot and who then turns the outing into an ad for her hometown.
Markus Söder is by far the one most focused on his public image – assertively demanding how to be photographed and how little tennis can be played.
Christian Lindner is one of the smartest guys in politics, but paired with his tunnel vision based on personal success that makes him one of the more annoying people to be around. In that regard, he’s rather similar to Sahra Wagenknecht, just that Wagenknecht’s utter inability to connect with people has kept her from attaining the same kind of success.
Kevin Kühnert is probably as close as it gets to the “common person” in politics who’s entirely unbothered by any feelings of having to fit into a social sphere dominated by middle- and upper-middle-class people.
On the flip side, Gerhard Schröder is obsessed with being accepted by the dominant classes as one of them – and regards the tokens of his status as things he has earned and that he will defend if anyone wants to take them from him (hello, Gazprom board seat!).
Both Green politicians displayed (Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter) are unassuming, modest people whose disregard for power politics makes them charming just as much as it hinders their political success. Hofreiter’s almost obsessive soft spot for culinary enjoyments of all kinds (which contributes to the writer missing a flight on their first outing) is wildly comedic given that his party has the (undeserved) image of being averse to personal pleasures.
And Christian Wulff, well, has been done dirty – politically, as his not unpromising presidency ended early over a comparatively minor scandal, and personally, as his wife Bettina left him not once, but twice. As his portrait indicates that he’s alright with being (mostly) out of the limelight, and as (past the printing of this book) Bettina and he are back together for the third time, there’s hope for Wulff.
Mostly unremarkable: The very nice Lars Klingbeil, Philipp Amthor, always bordering on being a caricature of himself, and Julia Klöckner whose hobby is a mode of transport for which one can easily find a parking spot and who then turns the outing into an ad for her hometown.
September 28, 2021
Sehr unterhaltsam...speziell die Kapitel über den absoluten Autofan Christian Lindner und den leidenschaftlichen Genussmenschen Anton Hofreiter. Ganz besonders herrlich ein Satz von Christian Lindner "Man müsse die ' Artenvielfalt' von Autos auf deutschen Straßen bewahren " Mit liebevoller Ironie geschrieben und absolut lesenswert....
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews