Germany hopes for Obama or Clinton

BERLIN, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Politicians in Germany don't believe that Hillary Clinton's comeback win in New Hampshire means a turnaround for the presidential primaries.

"Even as all the candidates now use the word change -- Hillary Clinton of course does not embody that as credibly as (Barack) Obama," Werner Hoyer, a senior foreign policy expert with the opposition Free Democrats, Wednesday told German news channel n-tv.

In Germany, most government politicians hope for a Democratic victory, even inside German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.

Karsten Voigt, a senior politician of the second government party, the Social Democrats, said the differences between Clinton and Obama were minor for Germany.

"We could work together well with both candidates, and that's not only concerning foreign policy, but also climate change and other issues," Voigt, who is the German government's coordinator for German-U.S. cooperation, told n-tv.

The senior politician also said that a Democratic victory may mean a pullback from Iraq and a heightened engagement in Afghanistan, warning that Germany may then have to increase its contribution there.

"The Americans will say: 'You have to get more involved!'"