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Discuss “U.S. can learn from Germany's new chancellor”

General elections mostly deadlocked, the ruling party was rapidly losing power and heading straight for a complete stalemate. Chaos seemed inevitable, until the improbable happened.

This was the situation in Germany last month, after Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der?s power base eroded and he called for elections to shore up his ranks.

The big surprise? After a huge deadlock, the two major parties decided to work together. They agreed to have a split cabinet and a new chancellor. A corollary surprise? The new chancellor is a woman.

Perhaps the only word suitable to describe Angela Merkel is ?improbable.? Born in 1954 to a Lutheran pastor in Communist East Germany, she turned to politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Former chancellor Helmut...

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