Look at the powerful wave he has unleashed for big, centrist, statesmanlike leadership.
The big centrist governments of the eurozone were never likely to do any favours for a new hard-left Syriza movement dedicated to unpicking five years of German-led response to the crisis – fiscal consolidation or austerity.
The three big centrist blocs all lost seats, though still hold the majority.
While the French National Front and UK Independence Party both headed for first place, the three big centrist blocs in parliament all lost seats.
There was a surge in support for anti-EU parties in many European countries in May's elections, but the three big centrist groupings, who back political union, are still in the majority.
Mrs. Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats have dominated post-World War II politics, most often relying on smaller parties to bring either a right- or left-leaning tinge to big-party, centrist politics.
In the biggest surprise, the centrist energy minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, announced that he had decided not to take a prominent post in the new cabinet and quit.
"The big majority is centrist, and the base is ideological.
But in order to get the budget passed, he will need to offer big concessions to centrist opposition parties.
The big losers were centrist supporters of Mr. Monti, who came in a dismal fourth, and the center-left Democratic Party, led by Pier Luigi Bersani, which won only a slim plurality in the lower house and ran a disappointing second in the regionally apportioned Senate.
It is increasingly clear to publics across the continent that the powers that be – finance, big business and centrist technocracy – has little to offer them.
