The Immaturity of the DPP

[Feiren]

That said, the real problems with the DPP don’t lie in its people, but in its structure – the total lack of a local presence in every community, the lack of a Youth Training program, the preponderance of lawyers and ABCs with useless degrees instead of voter mobilization geeks, election number crunchers, and savvy ad people, etc. There seems to be the feeling that if we just get the right message, everyone will come out in droves to vote for us. I get no sense from the DPP that it has any clue about how to run campaigns – Frank Hsieh’s presidential campaign was the worst ever – and yet it ran two good ones in 2000 and 2004. In both the foreign and local communities, there is too much focus on the leader and not enough on structure. The DPP would face the same problems regardless of which person ran the show.

I agree with this, but I think there are also problems with the people that arise from the structure. Maybe that’s the same thing. In any event, Tsai, pace Tainan Cowboy, has managed to lead the party out of the wilderness with these latest demonstrations and her drive for a referendum on the trade agreement with China.

Nonetheless, I think she is necessarily a transitional leader between the Kaohsiung Incident generation and the Wild Lily generation. For the DPP to reassume the mantle of change and progress, it needs to hand over power to the younger Wild Lily generation who are much more in tune with the pro-Taiwan but post-identity generations born after 1960.

[ac_dropout]

@Feiren

[quote]That said, the real problems with the DPP don’t lie in its people, but in its structure – the total lack of a local presence in every community, the lack of a Youth Training program, the preponderance of lawyers and ABCs with useless degrees instead of voter mobilization geeks, election number crunchers, and savvy ad people, etc. There seems to be the feeling that if we just get the right message, everyone will come out in droves to vote for us. I get no sense from the DPP that it has any clue about how to run campaigns – Frank Hsieh’s presidential campaign was the worst ever – and yet it ran two good ones in 2000 and 2004. In both the foreign and local communities, there is too much focus on the leader and not enough on structure. The DPP would face the same problems regardless of which person ran the show.

I agree with this, but I think there are also problems with the people that arise from the structure. Maybe that’s the same thing. In any event, Tsai, pace Tainan Cowboy, has managed to lead the party out of the wilderness with these latest demonstrations and her drive for a referendum on the trade agreement with China.

Nonetheless, I think she is necessarily a transitional leader between the Kaohsiung Incident generation and the Wild Lily generation. For the DPP to reassume the mantle of change and progress, it needs to hand over power to the younger Wild Lily generation who are much more in tune with the pro-Taiwan but post-identity generations born after 1960.[/quote]
In some sense it is because the DPP has trapped itself by its own ethnocentric and TI arguments. If you want savy college educated ABC or MIT with extensive training abroad, then you have to accept Taiwanese that have dual citizenship participating in government.

As I’ve mention I know of quite a few people in the USA that work extensively with the Taiwanese Student Union (TSU) and Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), who have been very turned off by the DPP witch hunt for dual citizen holders, and are no longer that active with those groups. I don’t see how these individuals will be easily replaced. But if they want to go up against the PRC lobbies and the KMT lobbies in the USA, they need to have a better “message” to recruit people. The simple “anti-Communist-China” message doesn’t resonate with anyone anymore. The type of “Taiwanese” attracted to the current message has much to be desired both in Taiwan and abroad.

Not much economic progress is going to occur in Taiwan without the PRC’s help these days. Without a sound economy, Taiwan’s social and political progress will be stunted. That is the paradox of the pan-Green argument at this time.

[hchuang]

I could care less if KMT is a murderous bloodthirsty mass killing party of bastards etc etc… the White Terror bs stuff happened last century and only old fogeys in my parent’s generation cares about some cigarette vendor did this or that. Don’t count on me pounding that stupid issue for my generation. I don’t even care about the corruption in KMT, as if DPP wasn’t corrupt…

Bottomline: they can govern and get things done.

What I care about is that DPP is simply incompetent and inept, unfit to govern, and is getting more and more incompetent and inept. Too long to detail DPP’s incompetence so I am not going to. And I don’t like somebody telling me how a Taiwanese “ought to be”. I am a Taiwanese whether or not I vote for the stupid incompetent DPP, thank you very much. Just to repeat, I REALLY don’t appreciate the stupid DPP attacking my “Taiwanese-ness”, whatever that is…

[Dog_s_Breakfast]

@Poagao

There are many threads on the KMT and the worrying trends resulting from the current administration. To me, this situation demands, now more than ever, an effective, focused and competent opposition party, and it’s frustrating to see the DPP wasting time with some of its pettier actions, like locking meeting room doors and criticizing the WHA entry. What Tsai needs to do to effectively reform the party is get rid of certain influences within the party and take control, give it a new image and a clear, convincing message that can sway public opinion. So far, it seems that isn’t happening, but I hope it does. Taiwan, like every other nation, needs an effective opposition party within the government. They need to present themselves as something other than “another kind of craziness,” as all parties here have done for decades.

Awesome post, Paogao. You almost took the words out of my mouth.

What I’ll add to it: Chen Shuibian certainly set the pace. I was hoping that when he left office, the DPP would grow up - so far, I’m disappointed. Basically, under A-bien we had eight years of non-stop circus acts. Seems like his childishness has rubbed off on others in the party, which is too bad, because I don’t like to see the KMT running amok either.

regards,
DB

[leyown]

Is there any hope for the DPP or any opposition party to get organized and sophisticated enough to govern Taiwan? It really saddens me when I hear about some of the silly accusations the DPP make of the KMT (not saying none of them are legitimate or that the KMT doesn’t do stupid things), and I just hope the democracy in Taiwan can progress and develop.

[mr_boogie]

This is Taiwan. The only thing you can get is either Taiwanese Nationalists or Chinese Nationalists. All the rest is just fantasy.
Just to get to the point you can be ellected for something means that you have to get your hands dirtied somewhere. That is how the system works. Just like someone giving money to a candidate - can you draw a line between political belief and bribe?