In politics, the ruling party's unfavorable factors can be an advantage to the opposition. But the opposition, including the Democratic Party, seems obsessed with obsolete methods of struggle, effectively serving as a foil for the ruling party. It's hard to tell which is worse.

You cannot see the opposition camp getting a firm grip on its rival, whether over personnel affairs or policy issues. The notion that the basis of parliamentary politics calls for the opposition to present alternatives to the policies of the administration and ruling party is somewhat hackneyed. But the opposition camp's unproductive carping is wasteful of the National Assembly. Clinging to struggling methods employed under the military dictatorship runs counter to both public consciousness and the zeitgeist.

The Democratic Labor Party's walkout from the presidential policy address at the parliamentary plenary session was a mistake. It's appalling that DLP members sat in the floor holding pickets. Their rejection of the policy speech delivered just once a year by the duly-elected president, indicates their ineffectiveness as citizens, let alone lawmakers. During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, opposition parties observed basic courtesy.

They charge "suppression of the opposition" while opposition leaders Kim Min-seok, Moon Kook-hyun and Kang Ki-kap defy prosecutors' summons. The investigative authorities don't attempt to take them without warrants in the dead of night, but intend to summon them for investigations transparently. We have no way but to regard the way they attempt to hide behind the protection of the National Assembly.

What's more, the opposition parties' self-disparaging degradation of their status as partners of state administration by partaking in numerous civil protests was non-existent under military dictatorship. Indeed, this is tantamount to treason in parliamentary politics.

Conservatives and right-wingers feel relieved because opposition today lacks strong leadership. It's fortunate for them that the opposition seems incapable of turning even the harsh current realities into a force for change. The opposition engages in incoherent methods in the legislature, lacking leaders like Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung in the past.

The opposition camp cannot appeal to the public as a viable alternative while it continues along this path. So long as it lacks solidarity and strong leadership, the opposition will find it very difficult to recapture power four years later, regardless of how badly the Lee administration manages the present confusion.

President Lee, in a recent meeting with associates, reportedly described his lukewarm perception of the left and expressed his intent to get rid of the pro-North Korea faction. They are also said to have discussed the need to sustain conservative power. If the left recaptures power, the Lee Myung-bak era will be deprived of its claim on history.

Given the constant chance of unexpected developments in North Korea in the next five years, the nature of the south’s administration is crucial to regional stability. The left can never emerge as the mainstream in the Korean Peninsula practicing its current infantile politics, rejecting every ruling decision on petty principle.

However, ruling power should firmly prove its credentials -- not simply remain relieved by apathetic opposition.