The two who want to enter the next bundestag will have little to say this evening. This thursday, the not-yet-completely renovated itzgrundhalle will be the home of wolfgang bosbach, a former CDU deputy known primarily from talk shows. With around 100 guests allowed into the hall due to pandemic regulations, it won’t be a question of who they vote for in the election on 26. Giving september your vote. They came less to be convinced than to see bosbach live. The 69-year-old virtually bathes in the undivided attention, enjoying it, as he himself admits at the end, that the listeners are hanging on his every word.
Rhetorically adept
And bosbach, sun-browned, in a pink and gray plaid jacket, delivers. Textbook rhetoric: flatter the audience ("they are politically interested"), be moderately self-critical ("are our event formats still attractive?")?"), remain descriptive and concrete, keep coming back to the big picture and – above all – don’t be boring! All this is peppered with a lot of figures: 25 to 30 percent say they are interested in politics, but only 1.8 percent of germans are in a party, the average age in the CDU is 61 – and the first five minutes aren’t even over yet.
In the end, there will be more than 60 of them, including the social market economy, rearmament and germany’s integration into nato, the nato double decision, reunification – all fundamental decisions for which the CDU/CSU, or at least its politicians, are responsible and which have proven to be correct, as bosbach says. In between, there are many stories, anecdotes, more numbers and a few basic remarks. For example, that nationalism is wrong (because the nationalist rises above other peoples, the patriot does not), that whoever lives here must also live the local values and laws, and that above a united europe there is no "internal market the headline is "never again war".
"One hundred percent support
Much of what bosbach says is met with murmurs of approval: that a flexible retirement age is necessary, that politics must back up the police, that investment in education will continue to ensure growth and social stability in the future.
Political stability is also important, bosbach stresses. He had spoken out in favor of markus soder as the union’s candidate for chancellor, but this issue was settled: "armin laschet has earned my 100 percent support in the election campaign."
Bosbach refrains from taking an in-depth look at the people and programs of the political contenders. Instead, he warns against "the extremists" from the left and right and predicts: "if red-red-green votes on 26. September the majority will get it – they will do it!"
Three questions are allowed at the end of the event, but it turns into four. Bosbach, of course, gives fewer answers than the confirmation that he, too, is aware of the problem. The media shape opinion? – politicians would do well not to scold the media, because that could be interpreted as influence peddling. Farmers are criticized, cruise ship passengers and frequent flyers are not? – the 40,000 cargo ships are a bigger problem than 400 cruise ships, and germany should rather develop modern propulsion systems, since the international flow of goods can be dammed up more anyway. Why is battery production, which is also harmful to the environment, called for, but e-fuels are not?? – the negative side of renewable energies is being tabooed. "I have not yet been able to find out how much forest has been cleared for wind turbines." What does the federal constitutional court’s ruling on working hours mean for people who have privately organized round-the-clock care with caregivers from abroad?? "We can’t do without this kind of care", says bosbach, whose 93-year-old mother is also so cared for. This is where emmi zeulner intervenes: "we need neighborhood care, we need the community nurse."
She doesn’t go into detail because of the advanced stage of the debate. Bosbach speaks the final word. He had traveled over 500 kilometers, and when jonas geissler called him on the way, he didn’t know whether he was going to schweinfurt or to kaltenbrunn. Why he does this to himself? "They listened so attentively. It was worth it after all."