Democratic Party’s way

Complacency will turn victory into defeat ― quickly

Everybody says the June 2 local elections ended not in the victory of the opposition but in the defeat of the governing party. Even Chung Se-kyun, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, must have known it when he said, ``This is no time to rejoice over the election result. We have to struggle hard to realize people's ardent wishes for change."

At issue is whether the DP knows how to do this; and more importantly, whether the largest opposition party can put what it knows into action. Unfortunately for the DP, the answers to both questions seem rather negative, especially given its track record over the past two years.

Since it lost power in the last presidential election, the DP has been called the ``sterile" party for its lack of policy alternatives or even the ``party of three no's" ― no vision, no idea, no action. The DP's physical resistance to the governing Grand National Party's legislative railroading at the National Assembly ― though inevitable to a certain extent to block the tyranny of a majority ― only ended up adding insult to injury.

While remaining powerless in checking the GNP's arrogance, the left-of-center opposition party remained arrogant in dealing with smaller, more progressive parties for electoral alliances against the governing party. The DP, for instance, stuck tightly to vested interests in its regional strongholds while demanding the concessions from the latter without giving them due political rewards.

Nothing showed this better than the DP's criticism of Roh Hoi-chan, the New Progressive Party's candidate for Seoul mayor, who refused to drop out and support his DP counterpart, and grabbed 3 percent of the votes in a race that produced a GNP winner by a razor thin margin of 0.6 percentage point. If the DP had any mid- to long-term strategy to retake power, it should have congratulated ― not complained about ― the minor opposition's advance.

Now the DP leadership has set about to scuttle major pet programs of President Lee Myung-bak, including the river-dredging and new education-science town projects. These will of course be necessary to reflect voters' wishes demonstrated in the latest polls but hardly sufficient for the DP to reemerge as the party capable of retaking and remaining in power.

What the DP needs in this regard is not just the opposition to the government's policies and projects but its own initiative to change the abject status quo ― most importantly the economy.

The DP needs look no further than the two conflicting economic news items: the nation's economy registered a hectic 8.1 percent growth in the first quarter; but the ratio of insurance policies surrendered surged to a record high, an indicator of a stagnant or falling income for working families.

In short, the DP must replace the so-called MB-nomics of neo-liberalistic economic policies that favor large businesses, rich individuals, the capital Seoul and growth. The alternative should of course focus on smaller firms, the working poor, the provinces and redistribution.

Is the DP ready to do so? We doubt it: President Lee has at least adopted a policy to come closer to the working class ― if in words only ― but the former ruling party hasn't so much as shown a countering gesture.