At the Very Top, at the Very Bottom

A few days ago, Christian Wulff presented his book: Ganz oben Ganz unten (At the very top, at the very bottom). Christian who?

©Der Spiegel

Wulff was Germany's Federal president for 598 days when on February 17, 2012, he eventually stepped down following a multitude of allegations. Most of them had to do with money and his friends. At the time, when he was Ministerpräsident (governor) of Lower Saxony, they procured him an advantageous loan for a house he was building, being divorced from his first wife, for his new family. Friends offered him and his new wife stays in hotels and private homes in shiny places, and they even paid the couple an evening at the Oktoberfest, where they would instead fill up on champagne instead of beer. 

Nothing was really illegal; it was just favoritism. Angela Merkel should never have proposed this guy for president, and the German Federal Assembly should never have elected him.

On February 17, 2012, Wulff announced his resignation.
While he tries to appear statesmanlike,
Bettina looks somewhat bored (©Maurizio Gambarini/dpa)

Wulff's second wife, Bettina, was even more opportunistic than Christian. In her book, published in September 2012 with the title: Jenseits des Protokolls (Beyond the protocol), she heavily criticized her husband and complained that she had not been able to live her life during her time as Germany's First Lady. 

In January 2013, the couple eventually separated. My opinion is that she left her husband, having lost the glamor of the First Lady. Finally, Wulff was put on trial but was acquitted of backscratching. As the prosecutor did not appeal the judgment, it became final as of today.

Christian presented his book at a press conference. He talked himself up as a victim of an alliance between the press and justice. He said that when the press brought to light his friends'  services bit by bit, the prosecution was too eager to jump on any of those allegations. In his presentation, he insisted that his resignation had been a major mistake and ich wäre auch heute noch der Richtige in dem Amt (today, I would still be the right man in office). Is there anybody out there who would like to buy Wulff's book?

In his case the famous citation from Friedrich Schiller's drama Die Räuber must be corrupted: Dem Manne kann nicht mehr geholfen werden (This man can not be helped).

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