You realize that the party that has run Germany for the last several years is not the SDP but the CDU/CSU conservative coalition? In other words, the German version of the Republican party has been in power since November of 2005.
I was assuming that's why the OP put "fail" in quotes... because a right wing Government has successfully pulled Germany out of recession.
Well, that and lots of exports to China and a currency which is far too cheap relative to the rest of Europe.
Plus, in an American context, the CDU isn't right-wing. They're kind of like Clinton Democrats, only with universal socialized medicine and no death penalty.
Germany has a currency "which is far too cheap relative to the rest of Europe"?
How's that?