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Baerbock with child reporters and a gift of money
She didn't get snotty.
But Annalena Baerbock made a mistake when she answered the questions asked by the eleven-year-old interviewers Pauline and Romeo in the “Late Night Berlin” tipi.
The Chancellor candidate of the Greens was asked how she would react to opposition from party friends: "Do you then make 'nettle' for them?" She usually didn't have any nettle with her, but "We used to make itchy powder at school too."
A look at the »Lexicon of Youthful Sins« would have cleared them up: Whoever makes »nettle«, encircles the upper arm of his victim with both hands and pushes the skin in opposite directions, one wring the arm out, so to speak.
It burns a lot - and herbal aids are not necessary for this, neither nettles nor rose hips.
But after the visits of the Chancellor candidates from Union and SPD in the tent of the ProSieben Late Night Show, there was not so much talk about their reaction to questions deliberately asked from the children's world - although we did not find out which dragon name Armin Laschet would like or which Pokémon Olaf Scholz would like to be.
The format “children ask, chancellor candidates answer” came into the discussion because Pauline and Romeo also asked critical political questions - possibly whispered at the touch of a button, but with limited scope for the politicians to react. After all, real children sit across from them. Armin Laschet has been criticized for reacting unscrupulously to questions about the CDU Bundestag candidate Maaßen.
Annalena Baerbock was also confronted with questions on a political issue: Interviewer child Romeo presented her with a box with 75 euros in banknotes - allegedly his pocket money. He first asked the politician what she wanted to buy with the money. After a short banter he then asked: "You want to give everyone 75 euros", referring to the "energy money" that the Greens are planning to compensate for the rising prices due to CO2 taxation. With that he stopped Baerbock for a moment: "Yes, well, big leap from pocket money," she said before explaining the plans.
At the end of the thematic block, Romeo had doubts: "It's not that fair now," said the eleven-year-old - which was reminiscent of his questions to Olaf Scholz on the subject of refugee policy.
Incidentally, Baerbock tried several times to return the 75 euro gift, after all, as a politician, she could not accept any money.
In “Late Night Berlin” Armin Laschet had to justify his laughter when the Federal President visited the flood victims.
Olaf Scholz had been confronted with his role in the Wirecard affair.
And at Annalena Baerbock, the interviewers and the editorial team who supported them brought up the allegations about their résumé and the plagiarism in their book - under the central question "Is it your fault that the Greens are losing?"
Baerbock, who gave her election campaign a "three minus at the beginning, but two plus at the end", looked at the question for a moment rather contrite, but took a routine position on the allegations. Shortly before the end of the election campaign, there is of course long practiced wording down to the last detail - even if the question about the book is introduced here with "My teacher always tells me I can't copy - why are you allowed to?"
It is actually clear that with such an entertainment format no gain in knowledge of the content is to be expected at this point in time. It depends on the grade of posture. Annalena Baerbock was very affectionate when dealing with the two children. Right at the beginning she knelt down next to them, gave the ghetto fist and introduced herself by first name. In the course of the conversation, she kept laughing heartily - she would think playing catch during breaks in meetings would be a good idea, except that she often wears unsuitable shoes. The two uncles from the previous week looked a bit more tense.
The “Late Night Berlin” team managed a nice gag at the end: Baerbock says she would like to take a closer look at what “cool things” are in the tent, “do we still have time for that?” Romeo's answer: “Nope "We have to go, we have appointments" - a small allusion to Annalena Baerbock's deadline for appointments with which she rejected the interview request from "Bild am Sonntag"?
