Philipp Rösler Elected Leader of Germany's Free Democrats

Just the latest sign of dramatic and welcome changes in Germany: Earlier today, the Free Democrats elected Philipp Rösler as its leader, succeeding Guido Westerwelle.

It's a first following a first, if you will. Westerwelle, who will remain as the country's foreign minister, is openly gay. Rösler is straight, but he was born in Vietnam before being adopted by German parents.

The Free Democrats are the junior party in the conservative government of Angela Merkel (who, for the record, is Germany's first female chancellor). Despite a strong economy, they are currently rather embattled in the polls, and it was as a result of their drop in popularity that Westerwelle stepped aside as party leader and the party elected new leadership. Rösler is also switching over from leading the health ministry to heading up the all-important economics, and he will assume from Westerwelle the role of Merkel's vice chancellor.

The fact that the Free Democrats selected the handsome 38-year-old doctor Rösler is just the latest sign of that party's classical liberal (in the European sense) leanings. Now we'll find out if he has the ability to reverse his party's slide in the polls and help buck up the CDU-led coalition government in Berlin.

[Photo from fdp.de]
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Philipp Rösler: Germany to Get New Health Minister

Exciting news (well, exciting to international news geeks like me) out of Berlin: The Vietnam-born Dr. Philipp Rösler will become the country's new health minister in the CDU-FDP coalition government currently being assembled, reports German newsweekly Der Spiegel.

Rösler is a member of the liberal (in European terms; in American terms, it's libertarian) FDP, which was the big winner in the recent federal elections in Germany. He is currently the economics minister of the state of Lower Saxony (in German: Niedersachsen).

The 36-year-old politician is noteworthy not only for his many accomplishments (medical doctor, and a rocket-like rise through the ranks of the FDP) but because he was born in Vietnam and came to Germany at a very young age, where he was raised by adoptive parents -- who've got to be pretty darned proud of their son. (German tabloid Bild calls him "the shooting star of the FDP.")

We've heard endless talk in the United States about how we're the only country where a racial minority could rise so high in the political sphere. In our case, we've got Barack Obama as president. Germany's got Rösler, and I suspect we'll see more of him as he continues to rise. Give him time.


(Photo courtesy Philipp Rösler web site.)