Angela Merkel is Not the "President" of Germany

Many folks around the leftosphere are so obsessed with partisan gotcha politics that it seems they're forgetting to actually think before clicking "publish."

The latest case is Oliver Willis, who wants to slam John McCain for apparently confusing Vladimir Putin as the "president of Germany" in an earlier campaign rally, as seen here:

Well, it's true: McCain confused Germany for Russia.

But note how Willis tries to take down McCain:

You learn new things all the time!

(Nobody tell Angela Merkel that Pooty-poot got her job!)

Well, not quite, actually...

Angela Merkel is German Chancellor, which is roughly equivalent to the position of prime minister and head of government in a parliamentary regime. Horst Köhler is President of Germany, serving as basic symbolic and ceremonial head of state, and while not constitutionally powerful, some occupants of the office have provided a national model of moral clarity and rectitude - such as Richard von Weisacker who implored the German nation to confront the atrocities of the Third Reich.

Thus, Putin would have technically gotten Köhler's job.

Willis actually links to a BBC piece above that identifies Merkel as the occupant of the chancellor's office, but perhaps in the common ejaculatory haste of the left's blog-commentariat, Willis eschewed a more careful elaboration of all the offices in question, which would have made his take down reasonably effective, rather than an embarrassment.

To be fair, none of the others commenting at Memeorandum caught the appropriate variations in all of these constitionally-designated offices (see RADAMISTO, Cliff Schecter, Balloon Juice, Comments from Left Field, Newshoggers, Not-So-Brilliant-at-Breakfast, and Rising Hegemon).

RADIMASTO goes so far as to say:

I realize that people running for office will make the occassional verbal blunder but after a while we have to ask ourselves if the blunder reflects an underlying incapacity to govern.

Which begs the question: I realize that lefty anti-McCainiacs will make the occassional mindless blunder while attempting to take down the Arizona Senator but after a while we have to ask ourselves if the blunder reflects an underlying incapacity to blog intelligently.

Cernig provides some early evidence for my argument, but at the going rate I'm sure we'll find more later.

So readers can understand why I'm giving McCain the benefit of the doubt.

Related: Putin's still in the driver's seat in Moscow (Dmitry Medvedev is Russia's new president), or that's what some have said - kind of a co-president actually, of Russia, of course.