Striking the wrong note: Princess Leia and the CDU – a commentary

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Princess Leia … Carrie Fisher (1956–2016) not only lived as Princess Leia, caught between world politics and the underground; her personal insights into the complexities of human relationships were – to put it mildly – quite something. Fisher suffered from bipolar disorder, was an alcoholic, and bounced not only between galaxies but also between toxic relationships, more or less meaningful therapies and various drug addictions. Her book *Wishful Drinking* offers a particularly compelling insight into this broken yet (or perhaps precisely because of this?) endearing life: a soul-baring confessional without a hint of vicarious embarrassment and, incidentally, a genuine reading recommendation for the approaching autumn!

From a psychological perspective, it is a phenomenon that can be easily explained: it is often precisely those people whom fate has grabbed by the scruff of the neck and forced through the cesspits of human behaviour are often the very ones whose analyses of (mostly negative) human behaviour are delivered with a precision that is usually lacking in the associated sciences. Accurate and down-to-earth – after all, they’ve experienced it first-hand. When personal experiences interact with a curious, critical mind, the result isn’t necessarily a cure, but at least a deeper understanding of human behavioural patterns.

Carrie Fisher had this understanding – and it led to a quote that is more apt than ever in the political year 2026: ‘Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.’ (from *Wishful Drinking*)

… and the CDU

Under Helmut Kohl, the CDU was at the height of its power. Schröder did interrupt that run for a while, yet even between Kohl and Merkel, the CDU remained an important political force, a safe bet for all conservatives. Then came Merkel, under whose leadership the CDU even tentatively (albeit unsuccessfully) dabbled in modernity and cosmopolitanism – and she remained the defining force in the country for a further 16 years. Since the Scholz government, things have been going downhill. Since Friedrich Merz (Darth Vader attitude, suspected antisocial personality disorder), things have been going steeply downhill. And that breeds bitterness.

As we learnt from Carrie Fisher, bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Now the CDU has devised a ‘plan’ to counter its now rapid decline, to counter its growing bitterness. A plan which it is following to the letter, as if there were nothing else in this world: it is following the AfD’s policies. So it is drinking the fascists’ poison and hoping that the fascists will die from it – the stated aim, after all, is to politically cripple the AfD (‘halve’ it). And lo and behold: the CDU is dying a slow death in its bitterness, whilst the AfD is laughing its head off.

What’s missing?

The SPD, of course, which is making exactly the same mistake – only in its own way: without backbone, without spirit, without anything.

What else is missing?

The tone that Carrie Fisher mastered: honest, unyielding, witty and charming. Unfortunately, one searches in vain for it in the political arena in our city, in our country, on our continent. You search and search, yet all you find are mindless, robotic platitudes, the endless ‘Wah-wah… this/that/pineapple makes me feel distressed/horrified/incredulous!’ and the age-old mistake of trying to persuade people to see reason with abstract concepts (climate, democracy) and rational arguments. It’s all very cheap, very haphazard and falls flat with people. The result isn’t shocking; it’s the logical, predictable consequence.

But the tone that addresses problems without playing the victim, that touches people’s hearts without being whingey, that comes across as self-assured without slipping into arrogance or ignorance (which, incidentally, would be a sign of a lack of self-confidence), that is so honest that the ‘pain’ of clear words becomes growing pains – Carrie Fisher seems to have taken that tone with her to the grave. That tone, which we could really do with in 2026, and which, incidentally, is also great fun (which we could do with as well).

But that’s the way death is: it takes the best of us far too soon. It’s a real shame, really…