NEXT WEEK, Angela Merkel arrives in Washington to meet with President Bush for the first time in her new role as chancellor of Germany. As the Atlantic Times put it, she is “the most powerful woman in the German-speaking region since Maria Theresa (1717-1780).” The visit is long overdue.

Her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, was famous for railing against the United States and the Bush administration, much to the detriment of transatlantic relations. During the German elections of 2002, Schröder quite publicly opposed invading Iraq, saying he wouldn’t “click my heels” and follow the American way into war. He insisted his country would instead follow a “German way.” It was the sort of rhetoric that raised eyebrows even in Europe–and particularly in Eastern Europe.