Well done, Günther: We are all sitting in one boat

Really, I love threshing phrases. They are so helpful to explain very complicated cases on a very easy way. "We are all sitting in one boat" is at the moment my favorite one and also my most famous one. "We are all sitting in one boat" here, "we are all sitting in one baot" there, "we are all sitting in one boat" everywhere. And that in the trueliest sense of the word.

It is like a snowball-effect. And who made the snowball? It was me! You do not believe me? Ask Google. Search for "We are all sitting in one boat" and "Oettinger". You become nearly 70 000 hits. SEVENTYTHOUSAND. When you search for "We are sitting in one boat" and "Obama" you become just 1500 hits. Strike, Mr.President.

Today, I tell you where the phrase "We are all sitting in one boat" comes from. It was during the time when I was a student. At this time, that was during the Seventies, you have just two possibilities when you are a student. Either you go to the Red Army Faction or you go to a Studentsconnection. I do not like the Reds. So I went to the Landteam Ulmia Tübingen, a very old, a very traditional and a very popular Hitting-Studentsconnection just für men in my homeland Baden-Württemberg.

You must know that it is a duty to hit when you are a member of the Landteam Ulmia Tübingen. And we hit a lot. Mostly with a rapier or so. We hit in the cellar between old barrels of wine. Or we hit on the storage. And one night, we hit on a small boat on a small lake with united eyes. It was very exhausting and I had a scar since that night. At the end and we sank down on the ground of the boat and someone said: "Look, we are hitting against each other but we are all sitting in one boat."

And to you know what the best is? It is true.

You have no idea who was also a member of the Landteam Ulmia Tübingen? Right. Gunther Krichbaum, who is at the moment Head of the board for affairs of the European Union in the German Bundestag. And Rainer Wieland, who is a Vice-President of the European Parlament.

As I tell you.

We are all sitting in one boat.

Thank you much my Woman and Man.