One wonders why anyone would find surprising the breakdown of the opposition's negotiations to jointly endorse a candidate for the Kaohsiung mayoral election. In view of the widely divergent interests and goals of the negotiation's participants, the chances of its success were extremely remote. In all likelihood, history will repeated when it comes to efforts for cooperation in the next presidential election, where the stakes will be even greater.
The arrival of former minister of the interior Chang Po-ya (
Further reducing her ability to be a team player is her extremely proud personality. Chang decided to join the Kaohsiung mayoral election because she couldn't swallow her surprise defeat in the election for vice president of the Examination Yuan. Having enjoyed a smooth political career in which virtually all political parties have begged for her assistance at some point in time, "defeat" and "humility" are simply two words that have no place in Chang's vocabulary.
Chang joined the Cabinet twice. Each time she agreed only after repeated and humble invitations by the administration of the time. Even PFP Chairman James Soong (
If there is one thing Chang has in common with KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Soong it is a sore-loser mentality. Any time one of these three figures loses a race, either the "system" or "someone else" must be wrong. It is never their own fault. So, Lien lost the presidential election because former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) betrayed him, not because he lacked charisma. Soong lost the election because of discrimination against ethnic mainlanders, not because his campaign platforms was ambiguous at best. Chang is pulling out of the opposition negotiations because the opinion polls were being manipulated, not because she knew Huang would have performed better than she would have. Someone should organize a "poor losers" support group for the trio, so as to spare the public from further laments about the mistreatment they have suffered.
Lien's lack of leadership has been amply demonstrated during the affair. After Chang declared her withdrawal, Lien meekly stated that efforts to work out a joint endorsement would continue, despite accusations by Chang and the PFP of foul play by some KMT members. Lien did not even have the backbone to vouch for his own subordinates. Even more bizarre is that despite the fact the KMT's own candidate, Huang, has been doing better than Chang in opinion polls, Lien seems determined to support the Chang, the PFP's choice. In fact, after Chang's withdrawal from the negotiations, some KMT lawmakers even publicly called on Huang to step down.
Perhaps there is a tacit agreement between Lien and Soong for the KMT to exchange the Kaohsiung mayoral race for Soong's participation in the next presidential race as Lien's vice-presidential running mate. But, if this keeps up, the KMT's morale will have disintegrated so much that it won't be able to mobilize to fight for the presidency.
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