She has had to fight people to get to the top. She is very tough.

illegal, non-democratic and sometimes even crazy.

It’s anything but a secret that Bush and Schroeder didn’t get on well. The problem with Merkel is expectations: They already are so high, she may not be able to meet all of them.

We can count on the fact that this will be probed by the American public, particularly by the US Congress.

There is no question that Washington is meeting Angela Merkel with a positive bias following the conflicts with former Chancellor Schroeder.

If there’s any prejudice regarding Frau Merkel in Washington, it’s positive prejudice. Expectations are so high she may not be able to meet all of them.

Bilaterally we have few problems.

might possibly give a little polishing to the tone of the message. However, for political reasons, the substance of the message cannot change very much.

In Iraq we have a common interest in security, but even in a pure Merkel government we wouldn’t have sent troops,

Any German chancellor has to have close relations with France, … Merkel will have a close relationship with France as well.

Notwithstanding that there were problems in the past, both parties are interested in better relations with the United States, … When you look at substance, we have practically no serious bilateral problems.

The Social Democrats, by turning their attention to Merkel, objectively saved her.

Election campaigns are always a bad time for rational discussions on foreign policy,