His insults were unnecessary, but his raw realism was important.
Ueli Maurer’s way of seeing the world had a direct impact on his politics.
Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer would like a man or a woman as his successor, but no “It”. He let the public know when he announced his retirement. And he doesn’t like to talk about proliferating endometrium in the notorious Bundeshaus polls by SRF satirist Patti Basler. «These ‘huere’ questions from television. You can’t be much more stupid than you are, »he snapped casually into the microphone. Ueli Maurer has been doing what he often did during his time as Federal Councilor in recent weeks: he is doing Ueli.
The reactions follow promptly. Kim de l’Horizon feels more hurt by Maurer’s words than by a punch in the face. The winner of the German Book Prize, who sometimes feels like a man, sometimes a woman and “much more”, would therefore like to have a beer with Maurer. Patti Basler, in turn, blames Maurer for the hate comments she was covered with on social media.
One may see it this way: the satirist as a victim. But you can also see a large portion of hypocrisy in this: SRG, where Basler’s contribution was broadcast, condemns “any form of hate speech” and offers “specialists” for affected employees. The production obviously didn’t think of simply cutting out Maurer’s rude answer.
This is more than understandable, because otherwise the contribution would have been lost in the everyday media noise – other survey participants such as SP State Councilor Daniel Jositsch or the Green Council President Irène Kälin are shrewd career politicians, but less quick-witted than Maurer and certainly not entertaining. The studio audience laughed the loudest at the scolding of the SVP Federal Council. It sounded like a mixture of cramped indignation and suppressed amusement.
Maurer’s lazy sayings, his thigh-slapping – they always work, even with left-wing audiences on state television. Because they usually come straight from the gut and aim deep into the inner workings of society. There is a little Ueli in every Swiss. And its release has a liberating effect on some, while others react with indignation. Maurer made the top-heavy government, which was increasingly sealed off with PR professionals, humane, with all its advantages and abysses, a Trojan horse of the local community citizens in the middle of “z’Bärn obe”.
The bricklaying phenomenon is not just limited to a projection surface for the worn-out soul of the people. His way of seeing the world and tackling problems also had a direct impact on his politics. When it came to the Gripen procurement and many a tax proposal, things went haywire for him. She was lucky with the Corona loans.
In order to provide the companies with sufficient liquidity as quickly as possible, Maurer decided not to set up a task force. There was also no need for a sounding board, guidelines for gender-sensitive language, or a quota for women. Maurer needed the decision-makers in the financial industry and a weekend to craft the much-praised solution. It was exactly what the Swiss economy needed at the time.
It is this despicable and unembellished realism that will be missing in the Federal Council once Maurer is gone. When he announced his resignation, Mauer mentioned the cleaning ladies at the Bernerhof, with whom he got along best. Their everyday worries are perhaps closer to him than the problems of a literature prizewinner in a lady’s skirt. It sounds unfair in these sensitive times: But even a Federal Councilor has the right to decide for himself with whom he wants to have a beer and with whom not.