[MUST SEE] Roh Is Wasting His Time With Political Theory
Another great editorial from Chosun Ilbo
The U.S. administration is on high alert now President George W. Bushs approval rating has fallen to 41 percent. The Korean presidents approval rating has plummeted to 20.6 percent: He has urgent business in hand trying to recover a driving force that can sustain the national government for the remaining two-and-a-half years of its term.
President Roh Moo-hyun said on Tuesday he would not raise any controversial political issue during the regular parliamentary session that is about to start. Aboard a plane taking him back home from his trip to Central America and New York, the chief executive said he would analyze the political models of Germany, Britain and France when he got back. He also said because of the minority government in Mexico, nothing was being accomplished there, even as nothing failed. He then recommended thinking about whether it was better to have a structure where parliament confronts the president or one where the prime minister confronts him.
It looks as if the president intends to make a political proposal following the end of the regular parliamentary session after considering European political systems like the Cabinet and dual governing systems. Although the president suggests that the matter has nothing to do with amending the Constitution, his ideas about power structure inevitably lead to a debate on revising it.
It was something of a tradition among previous presidents, once their terms passed the midway point, to think about constitutional revision, but none of them came to fruition. Even influential heads of state who freely control the national administration have failed to realize their ideas about the power structure. Any such change is possible only when there is broad consensus in political circles, and especially unanimous consent among potential presidential candidates. But if the president launches an initiative on the subject on his own, the opposition, if only from a sense of victimhood, is bound to portray it as a conspiracy or as an attempt by the president to lay the groundwork for the era after he resigns.
The question of amending the Constitution is a matter to be publicly debated in the political arena; the timetable -- after local elections in June next year -- is already set. It is not a matter to be resolved by the chief executive on his own in the halls of the presidential palace.
The U.S. administration is on high alert now President George W. Bushs approval rating has fallen to 41 percent. The Korean presidents approval rating has plummeted to 20.6 percent: He has urgent business in hand trying to recover a driving force that can sustain the national government for the remaining two-and-a-half years of its term. Right now he has to find ways of drawing a line under the North Korean nuclear crisis at the next round of six-country talks. It is not his job to agonize over the power structure of the next administration, nor is there any point if he does.
Originally reported by Chosun Ilbo
