The constant ridicule of the Federal Minister of Transport is just as unfair as it is tiresome.
Just because not everything went smoothly when the toll was introduced doesn't mean Andreas Scheuer has to be a bad minister.
His thing is not the past anyway - on the contrary: His thing is the future.
This week Scheuer spread a video on Twitter for a so-called "hydrofoil water bike", a kind of exercise bike that you can glide over the water on if you pedal fast enough. "This bike is an example of how #Klimainnovation works," wrote Scheuer in his chronically unwavering future-oriented attitude. And: "We as the CDU / CSU rely on inventiveness and innovation for #Klima."
In fact, the water bike has so far been criminally neglected as the mainstay of the traffic turnaround.
It would enable commuters in the Hunsrück or Lüneburg Heath to have a brisk and climate-neutral route to work.
But also in Darmstadt, Leipzig or Mönchengladbach.
Why, please, shouldn't you swap your diesel for a water bike just because there are no waterways?
And wouldn't the climate-damaging cruise industry soon become a thing of the past if all retirees had water bikes available for recreational activities?
On the day when Andi Scheuer came around the corner with his very own climate innovation, the country was discussing a comparatively unworldly proposal by the Greens.
They want to promote the purchase of cargo bikes with a premium of 1000 euros.
You have to come to that first.
What do you want to transport with cargo bikes, please? Besides children, animals, furniture, everyday shopping or anything else you might need? The possible uses seem very limited. It is also bad that the bulky dream companions of the Greens take up an outrageous amount of space from other road users. Instead of two cargo bikes, for example, a complete Porsche Cayenne could find a parking space. What a waste of space! The biggest disadvantage of the cargo bike, however, has so far been overlooked: it cannot even drive over water. Stiftung Warentest is said to have found out during test drives on open waters that a cargo bike sinks even faster than a conventional bike.
And that brings us back to the water bike. It turns out that Scheuer is miles ahead of its political competitors. While others are talking about how climate change could still be stopped, the visionary is already thinking of the time after the great glacier melt, of a world in which the sea level has risen sharply. By then, at the latest, the malice about Scheuer's water bike will come to an end.
