By Oh Young-jin
What is the worst enemy that may spoil our new President Park Geun-hye's governance for the next five years?
It's not North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship or the global financial crisis.
China's hegemonic adventurism, Japan's ill-placed pursuit of its lost pride and the United States' disengagement may be worrisome but fall short of making it to the top in Park's list.
My pick is popular skepticism and, more specifically, a failure by the Park government to get people excited about the future.
If Park strikes a "partnership with the people," she may spare herself a confrontation with her main enemy and her presidency will provide a fresh start for the country.
There are two readily available examples showing how popular skepticism has damaged presidencies.
Park's predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, has achieved a lot, most notably raising the nation's global profile by hosting a G20 summit in 2011, winning big nuclear deals and navigating the country successfully through the global financial crisis.
However, few are kind to Lee, who has obviously given up hope for an immediate show of appreciation by the people. It remains to be seen whether he will be differently judged by history.
What was his key failure?
Lee treated his job as president as if he were a foreman on a construction site. He led a big building firm before he turned to politics.
He didn't need to listen because he thought he knew best. That was how he had pushed against popular opposition with the four-river restoration project. The Board of Audit and Inspection has called it "flaw-ridden" and chances are that it may be subjected to a parliamentary inspection.
His foreman mentality led to a blind trust of his siblings and long-term associates who have been convicted of corruption.
It can be safely assumed that their misbehavior was reported to Lee because there had been rumors about their influence-peddling activities.
The late President Roh Moo-hyun provides a different example. He called his administration a "participatory government," trying to reflect the will of the people. It didn't work because he tried to communicate directly with the people but failed to broaden a support base for his initiatives.
In either case, the cause for the failure was popular skepticism and striking a median between the two extreme cases is not good enough.
As Park takes office as our 18th president, she is showing some of the same symptoms her two predecessors suffered from ? persistence that she insists is a sign of perseverance and a tendency to divide people into friends and foes.
If she fails to get out of this trap soon, people will quickly lose faith in her and think that her presidency is business as usual.
Once this popular skepticism prevails, it is hard to reverse. This couldn't come at a worse time because we are at a crossroads as a nation, needing a leader that can unite people and maximize their potential.
As our first female president, Park is supposed to offer us an alternative leadership that males are no longer able to provide.
Then how can Park fight popular skepticism?
Above all, she should make the people feel that she is among us, visiting markets, checking out senior citizens' shelters, talking with orphans, and laughing and crying with people.
We want her to stop being serious and enjoy being satirized. The moment that she thinks she knows the solutions to all our problems, she will run the risk of becoming our problem.
We don't need a leader we can call a father or mother. That time is gone. We need a peer as leader. We don't need our new president to be an updated version of Park Chung-hee, who had led our "Miracle on the Han River."
We need Park to offer her own style of governance. That is the beginning of our partnership ? a partnership where we, together with our president, think we are equal stakeholders in national prosperity.
We are ready for this partnership and all she has to do is sign up.
What is the worst enemy that may spoil our new President Park Geun-hye's governance for the next five years?
It's not North Korea's nuclear brinkmanship or the global financial crisis.
China's hegemonic adventurism, Japan's ill-placed pursuit of its lost pride and the United States' disengagement may be worrisome but fall short of making it to the top in Park's list.
My pick is popular skepticism and, more specifically, a failure by the Park government to get people excited about the future.
If Park strikes a "partnership with the people," she may spare herself a confrontation with her main enemy and her presidency will provide a fresh start for the country.
There are two readily available examples showing how popular skepticism has damaged presidencies.
Park's predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, has achieved a lot, most notably raising the nation's global profile by hosting a G20 summit in 2011, winning big nuclear deals and navigating the country successfully through the global financial crisis.
However, few are kind to Lee, who has obviously given up hope for an immediate show of appreciation by the people. It remains to be seen whether he will be differently judged by history.
What was his key failure?
Lee treated his job as president as if he were a foreman on a construction site. He led a big building firm before he turned to politics.
He didn't need to listen because he thought he knew best. That was how he had pushed against popular opposition with the four-river restoration project. The Board of Audit and Inspection has called it "flaw-ridden" and chances are that it may be subjected to a parliamentary inspection.
His foreman mentality led to a blind trust of his siblings and long-term associates who have been convicted of corruption.
It can be safely assumed that their misbehavior was reported to Lee because there had been rumors about their influence-peddling activities.
The late President Roh Moo-hyun provides a different example. He called his administration a "participatory government," trying to reflect the will of the people. It didn't work because he tried to communicate directly with the people but failed to broaden a support base for his initiatives.
In either case, the cause for the failure was popular skepticism and striking a median between the two extreme cases is not good enough.
As Park takes office as our 18th president, she is showing some of the same symptoms her two predecessors suffered from ? persistence that she insists is a sign of perseverance and a tendency to divide people into friends and foes.
If she fails to get out of this trap soon, people will quickly lose faith in her and think that her presidency is business as usual.
Once this popular skepticism prevails, it is hard to reverse. This couldn't come at a worse time because we are at a crossroads as a nation, needing a leader that can unite people and maximize their potential.
As our first female president, Park is supposed to offer us an alternative leadership that males are no longer able to provide.
Then how can Park fight popular skepticism?
Above all, she should make the people feel that she is among us, visiting markets, checking out senior citizens' shelters, talking with orphans, and laughing and crying with people.
We want her to stop being serious and enjoy being satirized. The moment that she thinks she knows the solutions to all our problems, she will run the risk of becoming our problem.
We don't need a leader we can call a father or mother. That time is gone. We need a peer as leader. We don't need our new president to be an updated version of Park Chung-hee, who had led our "Miracle on the Han River."
We need Park to offer her own style of governance. That is the beginning of our partnership ? a partnership where we, together with our president, think we are equal stakeholders in national prosperity.
We are ready for this partnership and all she has to do is sign up.
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