Dream Chancellor Barbie

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel was a little girl, I bet she dreamed of growing up to be the leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world, to make her country better for its people, to be a trailblazing role model for women all over the world—and then to get her own Barbie.

Barbie can add another dream job to her list - Germany's first female head-of-state.

Toy company Mattel debuted the Chancellor Angela Merkel Barbie last week at an international toy fair in the southern city of Nuremberg. It sports Merkel's signature strawberry-blond bob, an elegant black pantsuit and low-heeled shoes.

OMG, which one's which?! They look so alike I can't tell which one is Chancellor Merkel and which one is a cheap plastic doll—what a likeness!

"Creating a copy of someone is not the intention - we're not Madame Tussauds," [Mattel spokesperson Stephanie Wegener] said. "It's just a lookalike doll created to honor her."

And what an honor it is.

Mattel chose Merkel because she's "a role model for other women worldwide" who "represents what we can achieve," and I can't think of any better way to honor an iconic symbol of women's potential by slapping her name on an impossibly-proportioned doll marketed to little girls as an aspirational figure: Be smart and accomplished like Chancellor Merkel, but be prettier—like Barbie!

File under: Things the World Doesn't Need. Cross-reference with: George Bush's Christmas List.

[H/T to Shaker Kira.]