Steinmeier still has to face some questions on the case of Murat Kurnaz.
Merkel, by the way, has an approval rating at mid-time of 76% (de). If nothing major (very, very major) changes, this means that the SPD can't fight the next elections on personality, as they did with the last.
There are, I think, plenty of issues on which the SPD can define itself separately from the CDU, transparantly fight a battle and come to a decent compromise. The minimum wage issue was one where I think they did it quite successfully. They should seek out further issues, like, say, free university tuition.
I wasn't there, btw, I watched it on Phoenix. I'm not in Berlin and no SPD member. "If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu
I don't think you had to be a SPD member to get in, though maybe you'd have to register in advance. I'm not SPD either (don't even know if I could be as a foreigner, and anyway, I'm more sympathetic towards the greens).
