Weeks of intensive training by the protagonists came to nothing with the challenge by the KMT shown to be weak and desperate. To be fair to the opposition, they were always on the back foot given the rather pathetic nature of the challenge in the form of four questions about which the electorate clearly thought didn’t matter very much.
The downside for the DPP was always limited as they won a presidential election less than two years ago, and have years in office left. The KMT are desperate to inflict some kind of political damage but they are not choosing their battles wisely and would do well to stockpile some ammunition for future scuffles closer to the next election.
While a defeat for the DPP on Saturday would not have done too much long term political damage, the injury to the opposition credibility is substantial. They really have given this latest political slugfest a huge amount of effort and very publicly pinned their hopes on it, only for the electorate to open one sleepy eye on Saturday morning and decide that the issues were not even worth getting out of bed for. By any measure, this was a humiliation.
The result, or rather lack of it, represents a spectacular political mis-calculation by the opposition, and is a cringeworthy demonstration of just how out of touch they are with the electorate and the issues people find important. Political parties being out of touch with the electorate happens everywhere in the world on a regular basis, it is by no means unusual.
Parties with long periods in power think they know the electorate well, the irony being is that even when they lose, they still believe they are the real ‘party of the people’ and the fact they were voted out will only be a short-term aberration. This applies to the KMT.
The excuses are now coming thick and fast. On the TV someone just said it was because 80-90 percent of the Taiwan press supports the DPP! WHAT? Someone else blamed the low turnout on the weather - a very old chestnut indeed. Another pro-KMT commentator blamed Wang Leehom and the fact he and his wife kept everyone awake all night with their tale of woe, so people were too tired to go out and vote.
They really should shut up and salvage at least some of their dignity. Making up such excuses is just sad and they need to concentrate their efforts on learning a lesson, regrouping and becoming the effective opposition that every democracy deserves. They really are letting down the electorate and furtherance of Taiwan's democracy by acting like school-kids who have not done their homework.
There is a well-worn phrase that has been used in over 20 movies since Sean Connery first used it in the The Untouchables (1987). It has since become idiomatic.
We can now adapt it for the opposition in Taiwan - 'Isn’t that just like the KMT, to bring a knife to a gunfight.'
Tinkerty Tonk…
《 公投拳擊賽》
今天期待精彩拳擊賽的台灣人恐怕非常失望，因為冠軍保持者 DPP 和挑戰者 KMT 之間的重量級比賽，一如70年代的拳王賽一樣賽前雙方聲勢驚天動地，但結局卻是挑戰者甚至連一拳也沒有打中衛冕的冠軍。
過去幾個星期來挑戰方的高強度訓練最後是一場空，這讓 KMT 的挑戰顯得無力而且絕望。不過老實說，反對陣營似乎總是力不從心，因為他們每每提出的挑戰總是相當可悲，例如這個回合選民顯然認為公投的四個問題，並沒有重要到讓他們去投票呼應。
DPP 的劣勢是有限的，因為不到兩年前他們才贏得總統大選，而且還有數年的任期。KMT 不顧一切地想造成某種政治損害，但他們沒有明智地選擇戰場，也沒有為下次選舉備好彈藥。
我認為即使 DPP 在週六的公投中失敗，也不至於造成太大的長期傷害，但反對黨的失敗，對他們信譽的損害卻是巨大的。他們真的為這場最新的政治鬥爭付出了巨大的努力，並非常公開地寄予厚望，結果選民在週六早上只睜開了一隻睡眼，認為這些問題甚至不值得起床。不管從哪個層面看來，這都是反對黨的恥辱。
公投結果代表了反對黨在政治上的嚴重錯誤估計，並且令人尷尬地證明了他們與選民脫節，也不知道什麼議題對人們來說是重要的。不過政黨與選民脫節在世界各地皆然，台灣的情況絕非罕見。
長期執政的政黨自以為很了解選民，諷刺的是即使輸了，他們仍然認為自己是真正的“人民黨”，認為他們被選民否決的事實只是短期的異常現象。這適用於KMT。
現在藉口越來越多了，今天電視上有人說反對黨失敗的原因是因為台灣有80-90%的媒體支持 DPP，什麼？也有人將低投票率歸咎於天氣，這個老掉牙的理由一點也不好笑。另一位親 KMT 的評論者怪罪王力宏，因為他和他的妻子用他們的悲慘故事讓所有人徹夜難眠，所以人們太累了，隔天不想出去投票。
他們真的應該閉嘴，這樣至少可以挽回一些尊嚴。編造這樣的藉口是可悲的，他們需要集中精神吸取教訓，自我檢討改革來成為每個民主國家應有的有效反對黨。 然而他們卻表現得像沒有做功課的小學生，實在是辜負了選民和台灣民主的進步。
有一句經典台詞在20多部電影裡不斷被用到，首次出現在去年才過世的蘇格蘭演員史恩康納萊主演的電影 The Untouchables (1987) 裡：Brings a knife to a gunfight.
我們現在可以把它改編成台灣的反對黨：這不就像 KMT 一樣，帶了一把刀去加入槍戰。
Tinkerty Tonk… 掰掰。
No comments:
Post a Comment