Armin Kohl

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Armin Laschet

Photo: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP

In martial arts, in wrestling as well as in cage fighting, there is the "grinder" type of fighter.

The term comes from the English verb "to grind", which literally means: to grind, grind.

The grinder does not attract attention with spectacular actions, it does not aim at a quick knockout, but rather wears down its opponents slowly, continuously, with great perseverance.

It's easy to underestimate him, which is precisely why he is an unpleasant opponent.

And one of them is now chairman of the CDU.

In the race for the CDU chairmanship, Armin Laschet refused to do anything like an election campaign for a year.

In the corona crisis, he made mishaps, weak appearances and dropouts, endured the talk, the speculation as to whether Jens Spahn should better become chairman in his place.

Then on Saturday he gave the speech of his life and won.

Kohl sat out problems, Laschet sat out opponents

Overall, Laschet doesn't have that much in common with Helmut Kohl, but there is one thing: the method of sitting out.

Kohl sat out problems, Laschet sat out opponents.

He has perfected this method over the course of his career, he has entered several parliaments with it, has become prime minister, and now he is close to the summit.

Because since this Saturday it has been clear: He can make it to the Chancellery with it.

"Maybe I am not the man of the perfect production, but I am Armin Laschet," he said in his speech.

That was a small greeting to Munich, where Markus Söder now knows with whom he has to agree on the candidacy for chancellor.

Söder is enough of a political animal to know that this will be tough.

Above all, Söder's survey results speak for him, he is miles ahead of Laschet, and the matter should actually be clear.

But it is not.

If Laschet wants to be a candidate for chancellor, he just has to stay calm

Laschet's values ​​should go up after this election and his strong performance at the party congress.

He will then presumably still be behind Söder, but he will deal with that as well as with all the laughter and ridicule of the past year.

He'll sit it out.

Just like the state elections in March, from which the CDU could come out with two defeats.

If Armin Laschet really wants to be a candidate for chancellor, all he has to do is stay calm.

He is now the head of the much larger party, even if it came close again in the runoff election.

Boss is boss - and even the SPD managed to find its way back to unity last year after a close election campaign for the chairmanship.

The CDU power machine will succeed even more.

In terms of content, a Laschet election campaign would be almost identical to a Söder election campaign.

Both do not want to polarize, but rather to keep the Merkel voters of the past few years in line, both are painted green (and would therefore be a problem for the Greens).

It's all about the person.

And even there there is at least one punk who clearly speaks for Laschet.

Söder's past is Laschet's advantage

Söder may have changed his image rapidly - but as soon as he was no longer just prime minister but a candidate for chancellor, all his old appearances and sayings would be fetched from the archive during the course of the election campaign, the quotes and video snippets from the time when he was still the agitator the CSU gave when no punch line was too clumsy and no tirade too divisive.

The question would then quickly arise of the credibility of the candidate, whether the old wolf is still slumbering under sheep's clothing.

A candidate for Chancellor Laschet would not have this problem because there is simply too little that can be used against him, at least politically.

Well, as a lecturer at the university, he lost a few exams, but that was largely it.

Incidentally, he also successfully sat out this mistake.

Armin Laschet is not an exciting politician, he stands for comfort, cosiness, and in this, too, he resembles Kohl, at least the later Kohl.

It stands for somehow keep it up.

Usually that is fatal in an election campaign.

But this year, after a global pandemic, after a President Trump, after a hectic, excited, sometimes crazy time, the majority of Germans will, if not everything is wrong, long for exactly that.

It could be the year of Armin Laschet.

Icon: The mirror