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Updated Saturday, September 5, 2009 11:10 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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'Ma Ying-jeou' card no longer has capital

It is true that Yeh's campaign started late, but it is equally true that his mission relied almost solely on the president card.

It's clear that Ma thought that his blessing alone could catapult Yeh to success in the primary, and then in the county magistrate election at year's end.

Ma's assumption might have panned out if not for his poor handling of the Morakot aftermath. Power struggles between different political factions in Hualien and their respective supporters in Taipei may have also played a part in Yeh's defeat.

But it would have been impossible to imagine just a month ago how quickly KMT members would want to dissociate themselves with the president, who won a landslide in last year's presidential election, but whose popularity rating has now plunged below 20 percent in some surveys.

KMT legislator Fu Kun-chi, who was blocked from the Hualien primary because of his previous insider trading conviction, has blamed the party (read Ma) for failing to respect local voices.

He asked the party to stay out of the local race and let the county's voters decide for themselves.

Another KMT legislator, Chiu Yi, said “someone” overestimated his political prowess and thought he could dictate the course of the election.

That “someone” now clearly finds it hard to dictate anything.

Ma has tried to rule the country and the party from top down, but the time is ripe for him to realize that he is now a lame duck president who needs to negotiate and compromise.

He can no longer expect KMT lawmakers, who hold an overwhelming majority in parliament, to rubber stamp his policies, now that each and every one of his moves will be greeted by skepticism of the people.

Ma might have thought that he would have eight easy years as president, and all he had to do was to improve cross-strait ties and the rest, particularly the economy, would turn out fine.

It will be a huge task mending his image and winning back the people's trust. He needs to roll up his sleeves rather than just pay lip service.

Otherwise, it would not be unthinkable that he would lose in the KMT primary for the 2012 presidential poll.

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Comments

September 5, 2009 orzmen@

How do we know that Ma thought Yeh would win because of his blessing? If I say Ma thought Yeh would win because of Yeh's moral rectitude and past achievement, how could anyone disprove it without interviewing Ma? I don't understand what is exactly a top-down ruling style, but I think Ma is a hands-off manager as opposed to a hands-on manager like former president Li Denghui, who micro-managed even the appointments of low-level officials. Ma thought his job resposibilties were diplomacy and defense including dealing with the mainland. Other things could be taken care by the premier. Unfortunately, most people do not agree with him on this. He probably has to be a hands-on manager unless he can find someone who can really handle our messy bureaucratic system for him.