EDITORIAL: Lawyer's games could sink Hsieh

With only five weeks left before the presidential election, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominee Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is using up his media soundbites attacking Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over his US green card and other matters relating to Ma's history of residence in the US.

DPP supporters must be beginning to wonder whether this slow drip attack strategy is leading anywhere, because short of a bombshell announcement that Ma is concealing US citizenship -- which would invalidate his nomination and throw the electoral process into disrepute -- Hsieh has nowhere else to go.

Ma has any number of weak spots that could energize a demoralized pan-green camp: allegations that he spied on Taiwanese students while studying in the US; his weakness within the KMT and probable inability to defend the office of president against a predatory KMT-dominated legislature and his rival, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平); his inability or refusal to stop the KMT boycott of the legislature during his time as party chairman; his refusal to act honorably on the valuable assets that his party stole from the state; his bizarre policy of inaction on unification; his wishy-washy attitude to national defense; and, perhaps most lucrative for DPP strategists, his lack of a meaningful record of economic management.

But Hsieh's campaign team, packed with failed legislative candidates, has picked the lamest of options. And behind this option -- this strategy of "green card stigma" -- is the insinuation that wanting to study, work or live in the US is an unpatriotic act.

This is an idiotic message, as if it weren't obvious, and matters are made worse for the DPP in that this clumsy nationalism obscures the remarkable anti-Americanism in the hearts of KMT ideologues.

It is absurd that Ma's credibility should be at issue over the possession of a green card, given that there is nothing remotely sinister about acquiring one. Ma's weakness has instead been his response to the "allegations" -- which by turns has been prevaricating and uninformative.

But this isn't enough to stop Ma from winning the election.

Hsieh made much the same strategic mistake during his token run for the post of Taipei City mayor. Seemingly resigned to defeat against the lazy, policy-free campaign of the KMT's Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), Hsieh chose to mimic Hau's laziness and concentrated on nitpicking over trivial matters during press conferences instead of hitting the streets in a relentless push for every last vote.

The fact that Hsieh increased the DPP vote in that election is notable: Either he has tremendous personal appeal that can overcome flaccid campaigning, or the DPP machine did its job properly in Taipei City (a rare thing), or both. But this good fortune, and his lawyer's games, are not enough this time.

If Hsieh does not change his campaign mode soon, DPP supporters may well wonder why vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) did not get the nod. And even if Ma does end up having a US passport stashed in his cupboard, it is not clear that this would make Hsieh any more appealing to the majority of voters in a re-scheduled election.