GERHARD SCHRODER IS NOT PROSPERING:

NEVER in modern German history has a newly elected government got off to such a wretched start. With Germany now teetering on the brink of its second recession in just over a year, there is an increasing sense of helpless floundering at the top. Forget the “steady hand” on the tiller that Gerhard Schröder promised when the economic going first began to get rough last year. This is now rudderless drift. And with a mutinous crew to boot. Small wonder many of the passengers are already wondering whether they chose the right captain on September 22nd. . . .

Many Germans feel cheated and betrayed. Support for Mr Schröder’s Social Democrats has plummeted. Less than two months after scraping back into power, they now trail the opposition Christian Democrats by 14 percentage points. Opposition leaders accuse the government of carrying out “the biggest electoral fraud in German history”. Two Germans in three do not believe that the government’s cobbled-together austerity package will bring the promised boost to growth and jobs. Indeed many, including most economists and business leaders, expect it to have just the opposite effect. Tens of thousands of workers took to the Berlin streets this week to vent their anger, frustration and fears.

And it looks like Bush will be snubbing Schroder again in Prague this week, underscoring that Schroder’s administration is doing just as badly in the field of foreign affairs.