Angie in DC -- The German Chancellor & a Congressional Honor

Despite working for media I couldn't squeeze myself into one of the highly coveted seats to witness "Angie's" -- as she is often referred to among Germans -- historic address from Congress.

But a colleague did. Al Jazeera English's John Terrett describes the performance German chancellor Angela Merkel during her recent visit to Washington DC in his November 3 blog post:

"Sitting in the Oval office she cut a small figure beside the towering President Barack Obama.

She occasionally turned to joke with her staff and at one point even covered her mouth with her hand to tell Mr. Obama something that made the pair of them laugh out loud.

She’s the Chancellor of Europe’s political and economic powerhouse – Germany.

She reiterated Germany’s commitment to Afghanistan – it has the third largest number of troops there - though there was no mention of U.S. requests for Berlin to send more troops to Afghanistan, something that is extremely unpopular with German voters.

But Angela Merkel is no push-over for Barack Obama. She wants to be a friend and an ally of the United States but on Germany’s terms.

On Tuesday she became only the second German Chancellor to address the Congress – the last time was in 1957. It’s an honour given only to America’s closest allies and friends."

Read more on John Terret's blog post on Al Jazeera English:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2009/11/03/merkel-ally-her-own-terms