Berlin Squabbling Over Obama (Der Spiegel, GERMANY)

US President Barack Obama is driving a wedge between the parties in Germany's grand coalition government. Angela Merkel is keeping her distance while Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is making overtures to the new president -- and ruffling feathers in the process.

Barack Obama grew up knowing that there were two Germanys. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and he became accustomed to the idea that there was only one Germany. Now that he is president he has discovered, during his first few days in office, that Germany is divided once again.

But this time the country is not divided into East and West Germany, but between Merkel's Germany and Steinmeier's Germany. And when it comes to their relationship with the new America, these two Germanys could not be more different.

Chancellor Angela Merkel takes a reserved view of Obama, waiting to see what his administration's policies will look like. There is not even a trace of enthusiasm for the man on whom the world's hopes are now pinned. Merkel is not prepared to quickly accommodate the Americans on the first concrete issue for trans-Atlantic relations, namely the acceptance of detainees from Guantanamo.

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