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At a Cabinet meeting yesterday marking his 100th day in office, President Lee Myung-bak asked ministers to work with a sense that they are starting over. Regarding a shake-up of presidential secretaries, he said they must resign when told to do so, unlike the premier and ministers, who must undergo National Assembly confirmation hearings.
This time, the president skipped his usual opening comments and is said to have looked troubled throughout the Cabinet meeting. It is not difficult to imagine the emotions the president must be feeling. It¡¯s only natural that he should be torn apart, since his government has deteriorated to the point of requiring a major reshuffle of Cheong Wa Dae and Cabinet officials to control the situation, even though he recently apologized to the nation via a live televised broadcast.
But in retrospect, every president has had to endure such agony and distress several times. This has been the political reality. Previous presidents near the ends of their terms, unable to push ahead with their goals or step down, virtually let go of their control of government and faded into their final days relegated to lame duck status. It is true that President Lee faces scathing criticism for having let the state of the nation deteriorate to this level less than 100 days into office. But on the other hand, it is not all bad if you consider that the president has experienced mistakes, policy failures and misjudgments early on in his term, so that he can use them as lessons to guide him during the remainder of his days in office.
The problem is whether the president will be able to use the experience he gained during his first 100 days in office. This depends solely on his mindset. If he decides to opt for mere stopgap measures, then the situation can escalate beyond control.
The situation facing the country did not arise simply from fears over U.S. beef. Rash appointments of officials made early on in the administration have led to one problem after another until the government has nowhere left to turn. One spark cannot burn down the entire nation. The situation has come to this point because discontent and dissatisfaction piled up like kindling wood across the nation.
The only way to deal with the situation is to start by reshuffling top officials, since this is where the problem started. Simply replacing one official with another is not enough. Going beyond a reshuffle designed to reprimand existing officials, the Lee administration needs to equip itself with a fresh mindset, come up with a new game plan and appoint people who are truly capable of doing their jobs. The president must not repeat the mistakes which drew criticism from the public by fixating on inflated reputations and social ties when appointing key officials.
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