BERLIN LETTER: Journalists don't ask a lot from the prime ministers, just this: "Don't be boring."
Gerhard Schröder never is, so there was a certain sadness in his announcement on Tuesday night that he would help in upcoming coalition negotiations and then bow out. "That's how I understand the task one has when one doesn't belong to the next government," he said.
Many in Berlin are cheering his departure, particularly journalists in the powerful Springer newspaper group, publisher of the mass-circulation Bild and the conservative broadsheet Die Welt.
Two years after he took office, an indignant Die Welt journalist told me that this "working-class, cleaning lady's son" had the cheek to think he could rule Germany. But he did, despite the best efforts of the Springer press, for seven interesting years.
Many have forgotten the widespread feeling of relief when Helmut Kohl was finally ousted in 1998 allowing Schröder to usher in a new political era, an era that could be called "The Six Faces of Schröder".
The first face was the "new centre Schröder" of 1998, who seized the political middle ground and made the Social Democrats (SPD) electable for the first time in 20 years. That Schröder didn't manage to modernise the SPD as Tony Blair had done with Labour, contributed to this year's early election and his departure.
The second face of Schröder was the newly-elected "media chancellor" who made a notorious appearance on Germany's equivalent of the Late, Late Show.
In a flashy Italian suit, puffing happily on a fat Cuban cigar, he told the host, "Governing is fun", creating the impression that Schröder was not a real chancellor, just someone playing the part. The first to realise the folly of that thinking was SPD leader Oskar Lafontaine, who challenged Schröder's authority after six months in the finance ministry and was sent packing.
That was when things got serious, introducing the third face of Schröder, the "war chancellor" who, with foreign minister Joschka Fischer, faced down huge opposition within the coalition to send troops into the Kosovo war, the first foreign deployment of German troops since the second World War.
Schröder refused to simply write cheques for others to fight wars, as his predecessor had done, and argued that German troops could never erase their historical guilt, but could represent a new Germany which upheld human rights.
Schröder's argument had far-reaching implications for Germany, bringing a fresh, healthy perspective on the country's relationship with its past and its relationship with its neighbours, particularly Poland.
What followed was probably the least distinguished episode of his rule, the "silent hand Schröder" who said the economic problems would solve themselves without government intervention. It was a disastrous policy that stoked mass unemployment, started the deficit problems with Brussels and cost him valuable reform time. Despite this, the "war chancellor's" decision to refrain from "military misadventures" in Iraq, secured his re-election in 2002, by just 4,000 votes.
The "reform chancellor" emerged in March 2003 when Schröder pushed through his "Agenda 2010" programme with a mixture of sweat and threats. Exhausted by the rows with his own party, however, he gave up the leadership a year later.
Mr Schröder held his reform course despite mass protests and critics, who once criticised his pragmatic flip-flopping, now berated him for holding firm.
In May, after a series of state election defeats, he proved he was still good for a surprise and called an election a year early, though his party was wallowing at just 25 per cent in the polls.
This "farewell Schröder" was perhaps the most extraordinary yet. He toured the country giving over 100 sweat-filled election rally performances, amazing rhetorical events that saw the SPD surge to 34 per cent, just one point behind the CDU.
Schröder may be leaving office now, but he may have left a poisoned chalice for his successor, Angela Merkel. His SPD will have more ministerial posts than the CDU at the grand coalition cabinet table, including finance and foreign affairs, and Dr Merkel will have to abandon her more neo-liberal reforms.
In discussing his legacy, many often concentrate on the economics and forget Schröder himself. His incredible humour and self-irony have helped Germans develop a much more relaxed attitude to themselves and their place in the world, and have improved immeasurably Germany's image abroad.There's one photo that captures this side beautifully: Schröder and Bertie Ahern in Berlin, gazing at each other with the same open-mouthed, rogue's grin.
It's a shame Mr Schröder's grin will now be missing from the otherwise humourless world of German politics.
