By Oh Young-jin
Managing editor
What makes former computer vaccine maker Ahn Cheol-soo popular enough to rival Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party in opinion polls?
Ahn has not even declared his bid for the Dec. 19 presidential election, while Park has already established herself as the frontrunner in the governing party.
Is the 50-year-old Seoul National University professor appealing to us in the way John F. Kennedy did to an American electorate in the 1960s?
If so, aren’t we willingly putting ourselves under something similar to the mythology of what his widowed first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy termed the era of Camelot?
Ahn’s appearance in the late-night talk show, “Healing Camp,” reinforces some similarities with the 35th U.S. President.
Ahn looked comfortable, apparently enjoying a series of thrusts and parries with three hosts during an hour-plus program. It was like TV footage of JFK giving an interview shortly after becoming president shown in the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas.
Ahn’s performance was a hit with those who watched the talk show. The show attracted 18.7 percent of the total viewing audience, compared with 12.2 percent who watched Park Geun-hye, leading presidential hopeful of the ruling Saenuri Party during her appearance on the same show in January.
Kennedy very much owed his 1960 presidential election victory over Republican nominee Richard Nixon to a stellar performance he delivered during the first ever televised debate between candidates seeking to occupy the White House.
Kennedy projected an image of confidence and embodied the pioneer spirit. However, Nixon, formerly vice-president under President Eisenhower, was the archetypal old reactionary politician.
Of course, there are differences between the recent TV appearances here and those back in 1960, but there are similarities. Kennedy was bold enough to tell the nation during his inaugural speech, “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” which inspired the nation. Ahn acts and talks as indecisively about his future as if he were Prince Hamlet but is still quite popular.
“I feel I have to make a decision sooner or later,” he told three talk show hosts, when asked if he intends to run for president. It was typical of Ahn, who has managed to keep the nation as well as the political community on the edge of their seats as they continually guess and speculate about whether or not he will run for the presidency.
Of course, he also defended himself against accusations of being indecisive, saying, “A successful businessman can’t be indecisive,” obviously referring to his AhnLab vaccine-making company.
Then, he said, “I prefer people to think about both possibilities (whether or not he will stand for the presidency).
“It’s up to people to judge how (I am) truthful and I will be true (to my bid),” he said as if it were not his job to decide about his bid but a matter to be answered by the people.
To say the least, he has shown himself not only to be television-savvy, as JFK was, but also a good reader of the electorate’s psychology.
Voters are disillusioned with established politics and its denizens because they feel taken advantage of by candidates who vow to work for them when seeking their votes but, who once elected, push their own agendas.
The way that Ahn is talking and assessing the public mood, will position him not as a leader but as a person responding to the people’s will. This is a balm on the collective wound the people have sustained from disappointments from consecutive presidents, former and incumbent.
President Lee Myung-bak, the self-described CEO President, failed to guard his elder brother and aides against peddling influence.
Even supporters turned their back on the late President Roh Moo-hyun, who was elected on a ticket offering social justice and a more equal distribution of wealth.
Kim Dae-jung, Nobel Peace laureate, was criticized for being soft on North Korea. The currency crisis, dubbed as Korea’s worst peacetime crisis, occurred during Kim Young-sam’s watch.
Roh Tae-woo and Chun Doo-hwan were put on death row for killing innocent people during their power grabs.
Ahn offers us a new possibility ― a comparatively young, well-educated technocrat.
As voters, we are interested in Ahn because these are characteristics similar to those Kennedy had in 1960.
That could explain why people are still patiently waiting for him to make a decision about bid and ultimately launch one, hoping against hope that he would bring about change and be different from other candidates.
But this doesn’t mean that Ahn would not face serious problems, just as Kennedy had to.
Kennedy played Russian roulette with Soviet leader Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, which put the fate of humanity at stake. Moreover, his misadventure at the Bay of Pigs showed his imperialistic tendency.
If Kennedy’s biggest flaw was his go-for-it spirit, Ahn’s would be being proceeding too cautiously.
If something similar to the Cuban missile crisis takes place during his watch, could we sleep soundly, if President Ahn acted like an indecisive Hamlet repeating “To be or not to be, that is the question”?
But we don’t need to worry in advance about a Hamlet in Cheong Wa Dae just yet.
He has still to declare his presidency, although it now appears only a matter of time before he does so. If he were a golfer, perhaps he would be the type of player who would stop his iron mid-swing, when he finds out that his stance is less than perfect.
Then, he has to overcome scrutiny from the media that, so far, he has been spared because he has not yet clarified his position on the presidential race. We never know what skeletons could be found in Ahn’s closet. Not that we are expecting Ahn to have any.
Then, if he makes his presidential bid, he should persuade the mature generations who are skeptical of him.
Even if he overcame all obstacles and was elected, it would take some consideration to determine whether or not his presidency would be a blessing or not.