This story was excerpted from the July 15 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe. Angela Merkel pays what is likely to be her farewell White House visit Thursday ahead of her expected retirement this fall -- and will hand back the moral leadership of the West to an American President who actually believes in it. It's hard to remember a time when Germany's first female chancellor — whose worldview was forged by growing up behind the Iron Curtain — wasn't steadying the trans-Atlantic alliance. When she assumed power in November 2005, the first iPhone was more than a year from its release — and George W. Bush's presidency was spiraling after Hurricane Katrina at home and as Iraq slumped into insurgency.

Source: CNN July 15, 2021 01:18 UTC