In need of harmony, the SPD relies on reconcilers

At first glance, it is an unequal duo that will soon lead the largest of the three governing parties. Here Saskia Esken, the left, who stepped forward two years ago from the second row of the parliamentary group to everyone’s surprise and shocked the so-called establishment of the party so that the rumor persisted during the election campaign that Esken was being “hidden”.

There Lars Klingbeil, manager of this election campaign, loyal general secretary under several chairmen, rather conservative or pragmatic. On the video with which he announces his application for the party chairmanship in a double leadership with Esken, he can be seen alone.

And yet: What the two have in common is their ability to endure opposites, if not to reconcile them – a quality that the SPD needs all the more urgently when it comes to winning the last federal election on the way to the next to expand.

With Klingbeil, the conciliatory is already in the appearance. A friendly person, not a wide-legged Basta politician, more of the “What do you think about that?” Type. The old rituals of power are “no longer in keeping with the times,” he recently explained, and leadership is also possible without fear. He gets along with Olaf Scholz as well as with Kevin Kühnert or the leaders of the future coalition partners. Lars Klingbeil comes from the generation of Annalena Baerbock and Christian Lindner, that fits.

Esken has its merits

And Esken? Much has been blasphemed about their unconventional demeanor and their communication style. Nevertheless, in her only two-year term in office, she (helped) made some decisions for which even internal party opponents show her some respect. Contrary to what was expected by not a few skeptics after her election as co-chair, Esken did not blow the SPD out of the grand coalition. She made Olaf Scholz, who was not overly popular in the party at the time, a candidate for chancellor and, together with Norbert Walter-Borjans and Kevin Kühnert, managed to take the party left with her in this decision. Esken has its merits there.

The SPD also won the election because it appeared more closed than it has been for a long time. The future chairmen must maintain the style if they want to keep the party together and capable of governing in the long term. A duo with a cleaver has significantly more potential than an Olaf Scholz would have had. The future chancellor would do well to have his politics explained within the party by those from whom the party members buy the fact that they play in a team, not everyone for himself.

And not only that. Esken, that is often forgotten, is not just a leftist, but also a specialist with an understanding of digital politics; a topic that should become important in the coming legislative period. In the past, she has already proven what is important to her: for example digital education, which includes more than just sitting children in front of a tablet.

Both are digital experts

Together with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Esken invited various actors from the field to summit meetings in the Chancellery. That proves their ability to work in a team, but above all a style that is oriented towards the matter at hand. Klingbeil, a founding member of the network policy association D64, also has a weakness for the digital and was network policy spokesman for his group. So content-related impulses can also be expected from the new top.

In the end, the question remains who is the duo more useful: the SPD Chancellor Scholz, who has to represent compromises with the FDP and the Greens, or the SPD MP Kühnert, who wants to protect the interests of the left. Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil also decide on this in their current roles. That the two already know each other and are experienced in working together – that is certainly not to the detriment of the SPD.