The fallout from the mishandling of Typhoon Morakot has caused many people, particularly those overseas, to see our dear leader Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in a new light.
For practically the first time since he positioned his privileged posterior in the Presidential Office more than a year ago, the darling of the international media has been getting some bad press from those who previously made a living out of fawning over every move of the “Harvard-educated,” “handsome” “leader” of the “China-friendly” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
First off, The Associated Press threw a few jabs, hurting the boy-faced wonder with accusations of an “arrogant and aloof” demeanor before detailing his “string of blunders.”
Then the Financial Times landed a rabbit punch, describing our man’s “struggle to contain political damage.”
But the knockout blow came from the New York Times, with Andrew Jacobs providing by far the best summary of the failings of our Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) wannabe, with this classic description: “Prone to wonkish utterances, Ma is not known as a good communicator. His wooden qualities have been thrown into stark relief in recent days as he has tried to console storm victims.”
Time to throw in the towel.
These are the kind of gems that can be mined on the few occasions when international journalists can be bothered to grace our shores.
You can tell how bad things have gotten for Marky Mark Ma when even the rabidly pro-KMT press corps starts getting on his case, as did the China Times with its Tuesday editorial character assassination.
“[Ma] cannot identify with the feelings of others, and he cannot hide this flaw … he doesn’t have the backbone to make quick and firm decisions ... Being meticulous about procedural details is an appropriate approach for other officials, but not for a head of state. After the disaster, Ma had 72 hours to show his leadership, but he squandered that time and there is no way to recover it now.”
Ouch!
Stung by this unprecedented international and domestic criticism and with his popularity plunging faster than Yao Yao’s (瑤瑤) neckline, Ma did what he does best: He called two press conferences in an attempt to allay fears that he is a bumbling buffoon.
Bad move. Because despite what many people think, Ma’s much-feted English skills are really not that great and usually consist of lots of umming and ahhing before waffling in a roundabout way that doesn’t really answer the question.
Ma would have been better off trying to rebuild his battered image by taking a leaf out of Russian Presi-minister Vlad the Impaler’s book and staging a Putinesque picture shoot, stripping to the waist for a spot of bear-wrestling and horseback posing in a remote mountain retreat.
Trouble is, with all the roads to Alishan (阿里山) cut off for months to come and Taiwan’s native black bears about as rare as an intact bridge in Kaohsiung County, Ma would probably have to cancel that in favor of a semi-naked romp with Tuan-Tuan and Yuan-Yuan at Taipei Zoo.
That assumes the Muzha MRT line is working, of course.
Speaking of battered reputations, I’d have to say that the nation’s cable TV news channels have gone some way to improving their collective image as public service providers following the sterling work they did in covering rescue operations after Morakot.
It if hadn’t been for their prompt reporting of bits of information concerning trapped villagers and footage from intrepid reporters, there would surely have been even more death and destruction, with some still stuck in the mountains for Matsu knows how long.
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