The weeks of pan-blue campaigning against President Chen Shui-bian (
The fact that the bid was doomed from the beginning doesn't seem to have prevented the pan-blues from continuing with their campaign, oblivious that their actions may actually be causing more damage to Taiwan's reputation than that supposedly caused by the president and his administration.
Most people have probably forgotten that the initial recall bid was instigated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (
Ting decided to use the signatures he had already garnered for that bid in his latest try after the accusations concerning the president's son-in-law came to light. But then the pan-blues have tried to oust the president so many times over the last six years that every attempt just blurs into one prolonged bid to destroy and discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.
A look at the 10 charges leveled against the president as part of this latest recall bid illustrate what a shame it is: The Chen administration has destroyed the Constitution; thrown politics into complete disarray through its authoritarian methods; severely restricted freedom of speech and suppressed the media. Do the pan-blues really expect anyone to believe such fantasies?
This latest bid to oust the president and harm the pan-green camp's image can be construed as part of a "long war" in the runup to the 2008 presidential election. The opposition has placed so much importance on winning back the presidency that the Taiwanese public is in for a long and arduous media crusade against all things green over the next 18 months or so. But will this campaign really serve the best interests of the opposition?
The recall controversy already seems to have caused a split between People First Party Chairman James Soong (
Ma has already done damage to his clean-cut image of being above the most fervent partisan blue-green scrapping. It looks as if he has decided to pull back and protect himself.
That leaves Soong and his small band of supporters to continue with what is in effect their anti-Chen campaign in front of the Legislative Yuan. Many believe that Soong has taken the leading role in the recall bid as a way to gauge his popularity before announcing a bid for Taipei mayor. If this is the case, then the paltry turnout at the various rallies and other events the PFP has organized over the last couple of weeks should tell him all he needs to know. If he were to stand for Taipei mayor and suffer defeat, it really could spell the end of his career. Soong is far too canny to take such a risk.
It may be true that the DPP administration has not done a great job over the last six years. But if the pan-blues had just been patient, waited another two years and acted like a rational, reasonable opposition that was interested in promoting prosperity, good health and the well-being of the people of Taiwan, they would probably have walked to victory in 2008.
After all, in what is effectively a two-party system, when the public is disappointed with one party then the opposition is more or less guaranteed to win the next time around. But what happens when the electorate is disillusioned with both sides?
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