President-Elects Honeymoon Likely to Be Short-Lived
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
President-elect Lee Myung-bak's losing popularity even before his inauguration hinted that the new leader's honeymoon with the National Assembly could be short-lived, said a political scientist.
Prof. Kim Hyung-joon of Myongji University in Seoul told The Korea Times that Lee's falling popularity indicates the new President would have a hard time getting support from his political opponents from the beginning of his tenure.
As the public started withdrawing their support, the new leader faced falling popularity, which would empower his opponents to tone up against Lee, Kim said.
A recent JoongAng Ilbo poll found the incoming President's popularity has fallen to the 50 percent range after he appointed Cabinet members while the bipartisan negotiation was under way.
The survey found the rate of supporters of the government downsizing plan dropped to 55.9 percent on Feb. 20 from 63.4 percent in January.
The poll said 53.7 percent perceived Lee's naming of Cabinet before the bipartisan agreement was inappropriate.
The rate of respondents answering Lee's decision was unavoidable was 12.6 percent.
Rep. Jung Jang-seon of the liberal United Democratic Party (UDP) claimed Wednesday at a National Assembly hearing to confirm Prime Minister nominee Han Seung-soo that the people began to be skeptical about Lee because the new leader has not fulfilled the servant leadership he promised.
He charged that that Lee does not heed what his team suggested and only tries to go ahead in a direction that he thinks is the way to go.
As a result, Rep. Jung said Lee's servant leadership, which the incoming President stressed as his leadership model, has become an empty slogan.
But his comment is not all convincing because his characterization of Lee's version of servant leadership is not accurate.
Political consultant Park Sung-min, chief executive officer of Minn Consulting in Seoul, analyzed there is a distinctive difference in leadership styles between the new President and his predecessors.
``The President-elect tends to see taxpayers as consumers. From Lee's point of view, these citizens need to be served. Therefore, he tends to set customer satisfaction as one of core goals to achieve through public services,'' Park said.
According to Park's analysis, government bureaucrats and presidential staffs are servants who should work very hard to meet the expectations of taxpayers under Lee's version of servant leadership.
Prof. Kim of Myongji University said Lee's losing popularity is a negative fallout of the new President's detail-oriented management style, namely micromanaging the government.
Kim said, ``Lee's detail-oriented leadership was manifested when he said an ``electricity pole'' on the road near the southwestern Daebul Industrial Complex should be taken off so that all trucks can easily move in and out of the complex."
``The new President needs to be careful not to be involved in a contentious debate such as the removal of the electricity pole,'' Prof. Kim continued. ``He needs to present a big picture and stay away from micromanaging the economy.''