Merkel is a fish and neither left nor right. Apparently she wants to keep Turkey out of the EU but is all for continuing the negotiations. Apparently she is for a higher general self-responsibility but barely manages to reject the most outrageous leftist claims for higher welfare.
In her early days she was lauded for her silent style of governing after the Schröder years. I think that got to her head too much. She stopped leading and began moderating. Now she produces compromise after compromise. Actually she never lead and inspired the people.
That straw fire of an economic recovery Germany is currently enjoying isn’t due to any decisions she or her “conservative” CDU made. If any political actions contributed to it at all, it are those of her predecessor Schröder (Agenda 2010, Hartz IV).
Merkel is a nice, silent moderator. She would probably make a respectable diplomat. The chancellery is too large for her.
Look, I don´t know how much you´re familiar with German politics, but your observation sounds, as if you miss some important facts. In Germany - unlike in France, Britain or the US - we have a parliament that is elected accordingly to the votes a party gained, and not by majority vote. So, a party with 6% of the votes gets 6% of the seats in parliament, even though none of its candidates reached a majority in a district. Therefore, we have five parties in parliament, and the only acceptable option for a coalition in 2005 was a get-together for the CDU/CSU and Schröder´s SPD. It´s like the Republicans being forced to build a government with Democrats! Therefore, the Chancellor cannot really do what she wants. She is forced to moderate, and her capabilities were seen only in foreign politics. Merkel is the most popular politician in Germany with an approval rate of 75-80%. I wouldn´t mind if her rate was lower, but if she could do some real change, especially in the health sector, the employment laws, nuclear energy or taxes.