Dr. Hung in Monday’s China Post:
The new [Taiwanese] legislature will be so dominated by the opposition that it can pass or reject any bill it likes or dislikes.
That doesn’t bode very well for Ma’s bid for the nation’s highest public office.
[…]
A new [Chinese Nationalist Party] premier has to live up to the expectations of the dissatisfied electorate in less than two months before the presidential race takes place.
It’s a mission impossible.
If the [Chinese Nationalist Party] head of government fails, the disgruntled eligible voters will turn against the opposition party.
Honeymoon, doc. The KMT, like any other party, will be granted a honeymoon. All they have to do is play it safe for two months, and they’re home free.
Play it safe. That means no presidential recalls that engender sympathy for the other party. No matter how good they feel. Oh, and while you’re at it, you might want to keep champion driver Chui Yi from running down any MORE policemen with his truck, hmmm?
But in all honesty, they don’t really have to be all that conservative. Doc, your man’s golden. A shoo-in, as you like to say. As I wrote in a previous post:
…should the Taiwanese elect a legislature on January 12th composed of a KMT supermajority, they will have instantly rendered their March 20th presidential election an exercise in futility. Vote for a KMT president, get a KMT president. Vote for a DPP president – and you AGAIN get a KMT president. Because the KMT both can and WILL recall that DPP president (and his vice-president) within a very short time after being elected. Leaving the legislative speaker – a KMT man, of course – to assume the post of president.
Taiwanese opposed to Ma might just as well sit March 20th out, playing mahjong or singing karaoke or stupifying themselves with hard liquor. ‘Cause after the January 12th fiasco, their vote isn’t worth a damn anymore. Not a damn. They could give Ma’s opponent a landslide victory, and it wouldn’t mean a thing. The wrong guy wins – you recall him. Or impeach him. Or failing that, gut the powers of his office, all nice and legal-like.
(Don’t know if you’ve considered this, but the KMT might even find it useful to have an impotent Hsieh in the presidency. They’d still have all the power that really counts, while at the same time have the benefit of someone to rail against in the next election!)