A messenger who brings bad news is not welcomed. Perhaps, this maxim partly explains why President Lee Myung-bak was more than shocked when his party, the Grand National Party, suffered a humiliating defeat in the just completed local elections.
As the clock passed 6 p.m. on June 2, GNP’s loss was becoming clear. President Lee who was watching the election counts on a big TV screen at his office at Cheong Wa Dae, silently retreated to his room.
Lee was very shocked, JoongAng Ilbo reported on Saturday, citing his aides.
It was more so for Lee because all the prior reports and survey data, his aides presented to him, predicted an easy win.
Now, Lee’s aides are busy with analyzing the reasons for the defeat. But they are also questioning the reasons for failing to anticipate the defeat as well.
One of the reasons, JoongAng cited, was that Lee’s aides chose to brief him mostly optimistic outcomes.
“Now, it is pointed out that we need to promote an atmosphere where we could also provide negative opinions to Lee more often,” an unnamed aide told JoongAng.
But another aide also said: “Even though there was a view that GNP could suffer a crushing defeat at the last minute, but it was not easy for me to present this negative view when optimistic view was prevailing.”