If YOU were Chen Shui-bian and decided to take Koo Kuan-min’s advice, what would you give up?
I will sacrifice anything for the 23 million people of Taiwan. Above all, I am an idealist and wish to be remembered as a leader of movements, not a man whose wife and daughter engaged in corruption while I sat by idly.
I resign immediately from the presidency and hand the reigns to Annette Lu. I love Wu Shu-chen too much to lose her over this. Six years is enough.
0voters
Koo Kuan-min sees the problem with Chen Shui-bian as a difficult choice between his wife and the presidency. What should Chen do? Try to put yourself in his shoes. Save your own opinion for the message body.
well Taiwan democracy is as strong as a taiwanese girl on the wind… now it bends this side, now it bends that side… someday it will fall astonishingly because everyone just keeps looking at the poor girl, and 300 journalists and cameramans are ready to catch the moment went she hits with the tush in the ground and we all get a good pantsu shot for later reviewal…
I think that the wife is an excuse, ac_dropout, because Chen’s policies ran their course in less than two terms, but the problem is that if Annette Lu were put in office, she would try to take Chen’s and her women’s rights platform and her Asia-Pacific Alliance as top priority, frustrating business with China even more. Plus, Lu would have the usual adjustment period making a short term even shorter. We have a classic lame-duck president here. The question is, what room for maneuverability has Chen?
He should be pushing for a speedy trial for his son-in-law while preparing for his final 22 months in office–however lackluster they should count for something. I suggest he do things like secure ample mechanisms for continuance of the most precious of his “devolved” environments so that the KMT can not simply dismiss them with cutbacks and replace them with fascist systems if (when) they gain the presidency.
Yeah, the KMT has really clinched the Presidential Office and should start playing fair again. Whether China, the blues or Chen shot Chen is secondary to the fact that the KMT turned the idea mill over the shooting issue after Chen won the election. The blues should now be working harder to absorb/reeducate the PFP on what the future of China is going to look like without a CCP: autocratic with gradual moves toward environmental cleanup and improvement of living standards with increased maneuverability in international markets and on the political playing field. The KMT needs a PFP that understands why Bush said “Why can’t China be more like Taiwan.” Once the pan-blues are looking to the future, not acting on the past, they can learn to trust the DPP with the countryside and the DPP in turn should learn to pay ample tax and on time to protect Taiwan from outsiders.
The cause of democracy would be better for it and so would the KMT as it struggle to reform China from the inside. There is a distinct chance that the DPP’s power will actually increase in local governments, especially if it finds a way to reunify, befriend the overly ambitious TSU and garner trust with the blues. Blue and green need each other more than ever to discredit communism in Asia. After all, in this information age they already know each better than wife and husband. They must behave as such.
Are you chewing Qat down at the newspaper office? The public is so pissed off with the DPP, in particular with Chen’s Justice Alliance scum, that any upcoming elections are going to be a real wake up for the party.
Overly ambitious TSU? If ambitious means actually having well-developed administrative skills, then perhaps you are right.
Garner trust with the Blues? Didn’t Hsieh try that?
hmm…although I hate saying this, but I think it may work to KMT’s benefit if Chen retains his lame-duck presidency for the remaining two years. His popularity rating is an all-time low, his reputation is forever tarnished, even his hometown Tainan shuns him now. People will become totally sick of him and of the Greens should he remain in office until the 2008 election.
Put a more pragmatic Green in office to replace him, and that could bolster the Green camp quite a bit.
Therefore I hope he stays in office to continue to make the Greens look bad. While in the meantime, Ma boosts his international reputation.
A-bian would be a great asset to KMT should he stay in office. He has already proven he is incapable of accomplishing progress for ROC.
He is the elderly fellow who likes to write out his views on Taiwan politics, have them translated into English, and then present them as full page advertisements in the Washington Post and New York Times.
I know him.
However, the point that Mr. Koo was making in his recent pronouncements in the Taiwan press (only half-page advertisements this time) was that President Chen should be given another six months to prove his leadership capabilities.
The problem is: Since he took office in 2000, Chen’s leadership style has become more and more apparent. That is his style and it is not going to change.
So, there is no point in waiting six months.
If Vice-President Lu is given the reigns of power now, she could then run for President in 2008. If not, there will still be many people who doubt her leadership ability …
So, for the benefit of the DPP, President Chen might want to consider making a quick exit.
What amuses me, Hartzell, is this idea you have that making Lu president (giving her the reins) will give her a chance to show “leadership ability”.
Dude…pass the bong. Must be good stuff.[/quote]
I think Mr Hartzell fell into the cauldron of Magic Sarcasm Potion as a child…
My own opinion is that whilst it’s been a predictable but amusing giggle watching CSB get completely stitched up by the KMT as he flounders way out of his depth, I am not in favour of Annette Lu taking over as the Object of Ridicule as I genuinely think she might be a bit Loopy Loo (pun intended) and it’s not fair to laugh at the afflicted.
My apologies to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Mixed Metaphors for my last post. I promise to pull out all the stops and my socks up in the future going forward. Damn.
If ambitious means actually having well-developed administrative skills, then perhaps you are right.
While in the meantime, Ma boosts his international reputation.
why do the polls I organize always flop?