By Jay Kim
A couple of months ago, President Obama told an audience of small business people that they did not accomplish their success alone. He implied their success would have been impossible without enormous help from the government, emphasizing that without large-scale infrastructure such as highways, railroads and harbors, built by the government, the U.S. could not have become the top economic power in the world.
The reply from small business people was that without the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of American small businesses, their success would not have been possible. The president was highly criticized for trying to downgrade the success of small businesses as a governmental achievement, despite the inefficiency of an administration that has accumulated deficits. This was Obama’s gaffe as a presidential candidate.
Last week Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, made a bigger gaffe. The problem is that a candidate cannot take back such a gaffe. Since correcting the statement, claiming that it was not his intention, only pushes a candidate into a deeper hole, he should just move on after giving a simple and clear apology. A prolonged apology hurts the candidate’s leadership. Repeating an apology three or four times is the end of a presidential dream.
Romney said: 47 percent of American people were too dependent on the government; America was taking the wrong path if the government took the role of redistributing the money that people worked hard to earn. Furthermore, Romney even said that almost half of Americans did not pay any federal income tax and they believed that society should be responsible for their poverty and that the government should help them. Even many Republican members of Congress poured criticisms on this remark.
Romney’s remark was intended to express the anger of some Americans against people who eat away at the taxes others have paid, while not paying a single penny of income tax, and who demand benefits from the government. Instead, this explicit comment made many American people angry.
Romney’s popularity, which was almost neck and neck with Obama’s in this presidential race, has taken a serious hit from this gaffe. The Obama campaign is excited to concentrate tenacious attacks on the 47 percent comment from Romney. Fortunately, there will be plenty of opportunities for him to recover, since there are still 45 days before the Nov. 6 Election Day.
President George H. W. Bush made a notorious blunder as a presidential candidate. It was his guarantee: “Read my lips: no new taxes.” This remark was criticized by so many political commentators as “the worst political blunder’’ or “the most destructive political blunder in the history of American presidential election.’’ At the end of June of his inaugural year, Bush had to make an announcement that taxes had to be raised for enormous budgetary deficits, and many of the press derided him with “Read my lips: I lied.” Four years later Bush’s reelection was almost a certainty but was crushed by Bill Clinton, then a newcomer on the nationwide political stage. Until now, Bush’s blunder was the biggest blunder in the modern history of America. One gaffe can last a long time, even as long as this.
The presidential candidates in Korea haven’t made any serious gaffes until now. Rather, their aides have made more mistakes. It is still a long way to go until the Dec. 19, Presidential Election Day here. Nobody can predict what sort of blunders candidates may make during an upcoming debate among the three candidates. Political commentators and reporters will not miss the smallest blunder by a candidate, and such a mistake can be overblown to become fatal.
It is more likely that candidate Ahn Cheol-soo will make a blunder. The reason is that unlike the other candidates, Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in, Ahn does not have much experience in politics and has not been tested in debate during any primary. Ahn should prepare fully to avoid any blunders.
Jay Kim is a former U.S. congressman. He serves as chairman of the Kim Chang Joon US-Korea Foundation. For more information, visit Kim’s website (www.jayckim.com).