Inside Politics

Fear of God

Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor, has written in a new book that George W. Bush‘sfrequent references to God in their meetings before the Iraq war had made him wary of Mr. Bush’s political decisions. Mr. Schroeder also suggested that America’s Christian conservatives are not much different than Islamists who impose their beliefs on entire nations.

Mr. Schroeder wrote in an advance excerpt of his memoirs that Germany had stood by its vow of “unlimited solidarity” after the September 11 attacks. But Germany stayed out of Iraq, causing a breach in U.S.-Germany ties.

He wrote in “Decisions: My Life in Politics,” excerpted yesterday in Der Spiegel magazine, that he was alarmed by Mr. Bush’s talk of God, which made him fear religion influenced decisions.

“What worried me, despite a relaxed atmosphere to our talks, and to a certain degree what made me skeptical was how much it came through that this president saw himself as ‘God-fearing’ and saw that as the highest authority,” Mr. Schroeder wrote.

Mr. Schroeder, a Social Democrat who left politics after his party lost a 2005 election to end his seven years in power, said he had no qualms with Mr. Bush’s Christian faith, but could not escape a fear that religion was a driving force behind his decisions.

The former chancellor also took aim at America’s Christian conservatives, Reuters news agency reports.

“Quite rightly, we criticize that in most Islamic states the role of religion in society and the secular character of the legal system are not clearly separated,” he said. “But we haven’t taken note as readily of the U.S. Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible that show similar tendencies.”

Unshackled

“We see where the Democrats are laying in cases of champagne to celebrate their Nov. 7 victory in the congressional elections. If as seems possible control of the Senate turns on a single seat, attention will return to one probable winner who likely won’t be in the Democratic clubhouse spraying bubbly that night — Joe Lieberman,” Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henninger writes.

“Sen. Lieberman is going to defeat the Ned Lamont ‘insurgency’ from the Democratic left. Now what?” Mr. Henninger asked.

“His lead in the most recent polls runs between 8 and 13 points. It is safe to assume that if the Democrats win next month, they won’t be urging reporters to focus on the Lieberman victory in Connecticut. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“What was supposed to happen is that Joe Lieberman was supposed to go away. After Ned Lamont defeated Mr. Lieberman in the primary, a procession of his Senate friends traveled ostentatiously to Connecticut to re-create the scene in ‘Godfather II,’ where Tom Hagen tells Frank Pentangeli about how marked guys went away in the time of the Roman Empire. ‘Yeah,’ said Frankie, ‘and their families were taken care of.’ Hagen: ‘A nice deal.’

“That was a movie. Instead of a political corpse, the Democratic Party is about to get its own version of John McCain — a shrewd and independent maverick. By the accounts of friends and associates, Joe Lieberman feels ‘liberated’ and ‘unshackled.’ ”

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