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Welcome to the penultimate edition of the Obama Check! It’s only one more installment until the grand finale. Today we’ll be testing Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Chancellor candidate of the SPD. Steinmeier has a clear advantage over our previous checkees – he has actually met and touched his Obamaness, and there are pictures to prove it. So did Steinmeier catch some of that Obama glamour? Let’s find out.

From rags to riches: Steinmeier’s father was a carpenter from Brakelsiek, his mother a factory worker and refugee from Breslau. He was the first member of his family to attend a Gymnasium and get the Abitur and later studied law in Gießen. In 1991, he began to work for Gerhard Schröder and eventually followed him to the chancellery. One and a half Obamas.

Diversity: Nada. Zero Obamas

Vitality: Steinmeier played in the local soccer club for ten years (nickname: “Prickel”), is married and has one daughter. One Obama.

Web 2.0: Clean website, 4,690 Facebook supporters, no Twitter and a real social network, that actually allows user interaction. Easily the best performance thus far, one and a half Obamas.

Policies: Steinmeier supported the German stimulus package, supports the Afghanistan misson and was one of the first to call for German admittance of Guantanamo inmates. One and a half Obamas.

Total:

With five and a half Obamas, Steinmeier takes the lead in our competition. Will he able to hold onto it with only Chancellor Angela Merkel yet to be tested? Find out very soon, here at tapmag!

You can find all the posts of this series here.