"It actually feels like I'm being blamed for everything at the moment," says Gerhard Schröder with a hearty laugh. He has a point: the German Chancellor is taking the rap for all of his country's ills, from a floundering economy and tense relations with the U.S. to higher taxes and nationwide strikes that closed airports, subways and kindergartens. Just three months ago, he was riding high hailed as a master politician for fighting his way to a 6,000-vote re-election. After trailing his conservative opponent for months amid a wave of bad economic news, Schröder turned the tide thanks to his...
