Abe Shinzo - Prime Minister. Was Prime Minister. Grandfather was Prime Minister, Father was Foreign Minister.
Aso Taro - Finance amd Minister. Was Prime Minister. Grandfather was Prime Minister. Father was politician and mining/cement magnate.
Park Geun-hye - President-elect of South Korea. Father was president and dictator.
Kim Jong-eun - Leader of North Korea. Grandfather was Great Leader. Father was Dear Leader. Trophy singer wife.
Xi Jinping - General-Secretary of the Communist Party of China. Father was Vice-Premier. Trophy singer wife. Family purportedly insanely wealthy. (Link)
1) Do you think these guys could put their heads together and cook up a fine simulation of international relations and domestic politics in order to keep us occupied/entertained and themselves in power forever?
2) What's up with Ma Ying-cheou?
3) Yes, I am ignoring Benigno Aquino III. I do not know why. I guess I still love the Lady in Yellow.
Ms Park seems the one who worked hardest to earn her stipes. There was a big gap between her father's "retirement" and her election; and she was elected in a presidential election.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if we look at the US, many of the first women politicians were daughters/widows and gradually it opened the door to others.
Robert Dujarric
M. Dujarric -
ReplyDeleteAll true.
No region of the world can hold a candle to South Asia, though, in terms of wives and daughters taking over from spouses and parents.
Park Geun Hye's inclusion here with KJE is absurd in any but the most trivial way. To do so diminishes her political accomplishments, which are based on the track-record merit of winning elections for her party, including in unfavorable circumstances.
ReplyDeleteShe was not handed the job of being her party's leader and chief messager because she is PCH's daughter. She did not inherit the job from her father. She fought for the job and won it because everyone knows she is the best campaign organizer in the country and the most competent and credible political leader in her party. There is no irony that her nickname is "Queen of Elections."
Both in the USA and the ROK, leftists seem over-eager to decry political nepotism. But in both countries, charging nepotism today arises out of ignorance of how much ability is actually needed to successfully win or hold positions of power. Some random douche scion cannot simply prance onto the political stage and expect to win because his father was some political big shot.
Should Hillary Clinton run for president in four years, no one is going to think that people only care about her because of who she is married to. No. Hillary Clinton will be able to run based on her own merit.
And while I rate W Bush as the most incompetent president in US history, I rate him as one of the best political campaigners in GOP history for winning with a radicalized rightwing coalition far out of step with slightly more than half the country.
Also,
ReplyDelete51.55%--first time since free democratic elections began in 1987 that the winner won more than half the votes.
75.8%--highest voter turn out in 15 years.
1--the number of terms the president of the ROK may hold office.
[Do you think these guys could put their heads together and cook up a fine simulation of international relations and domestic politics in order to keep us occupied/entertained and themselves in power forever?]
--MTC
What is it you are trying to say about her?
I should clarify...
ReplyDeleteI meant that PGH is the first president of ROK to win more than half the votes during the free elections era, which began in 1987.
No one else could have done so in 2012.
And after she leaves office after her single term, no one else in her family will find himself in her position of advantage for a long time, if ever. And she herself has not married and has no children of her own.
Hence, only a fool would think that this transition was "dynastic" in any strict sense. The majority preferred her and found her more credible than any of her rivals in or outside her party.
Also,
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure I ended up insulting the blogger in my above disjointed rant. Ugh. I apologize to him. I have much respect for him and his blog. Sorry...
:(
Anonymous -
ReplyDeleteI am not insulted. I am edified.
Feel free to vent, for it is out of righteousness.