While most recent attention has focused on what messages President Chen Shui-bian (
How should we anticipate this "A-bian era"? Can Chen continue to build his leadership based on democratic principles and decisive actions?
That Chen garnered over half the popular vote is indisputable. The question now is how he will manage this new mandate in accordance with public expectations and translate his campaign messages into concrete actions.
A political leader should monitor the pulse of the times in which he lives. He need not mute his desire for change or modify his ideas, but he must make sure his style matches the public's mood.
The election showed that Chen and his government have been in line with the mainstream public opinion in terms of promoting national identity. Further, the returns imply that over 50 percent of voters trust that Chen will continue reforms in political institutions, crime-fighting, education and economic rejuvenation.
With such a mandate, Chen need not limit his goals. However, he must skillfully lower his voice, bend his knees and take smaller steps. After all, the razor-thin victory reveals a divided society. How to regain the public's trust in his leadership and in the government will be one of Chen's challenges.
A smart leader should realize when the national mood has changed. Exhausted by partisan disputes, ethnic divisions and extremism on both sides of the unification-independence dichotomy, the country wants political leaders to resolve their differences.
Therefore, learning how to be both a "bargaining" president and an "action" president will be the key to Chen's success in the next four years.
To fulfill his pledges, Chen must build a clear strategy for implementing them. He must accelerate his proposals to establish task forces to reduce ethnic divisions, and must maintain peaceful and stable interactions with China.
To bridge partisan differences and pursue political reconciliation with the opposition, Chen should follow a strategy of persuasion and bargaining to seek common ground on key policies.
Even the year-end legislative election might inhibit constructive cooperation between political parties. Chen needs to continue to serve as a father figure to help the public learn that the country faces both domestic and international difficulties. The extent to which political parties can put aside their differences and work together for the common people's good will determine the nation's future.
The power to negotiate determines whether Chen should be aggressive or conciliatory in promoting his policies. When he speaks out boldly to set an agenda for constitutional revision by 2006, should he focus on incremental change rather than radical adjustments? Is it time to run up the flag and charge, or to mediate differences and seek to move the consensus by stages?
Chen must act like a CEO who insists on tough discipline among his team, for the partially reorganized Cabinet acts as his policy executor. There is no room for the administration to repeat its mistakes.
Chen should keep in mind that politicians do not just need public support to win elections; they need it to govern. A politician needs a permanent campaign to keep a permanent majority, but this goal does not mean abandoning principle. It means caring enough about how you explain yourself to get the nation solidly behind you.
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