Putin`s comeback

Many presidents have served two consecutive terms in the U.S., but only S. Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) served two non-consecutive terms. He failed to win reelection in the 1888 election because though he won the popular vote, he lost the vote of the Electoral College. When he left the White House in 1889 after his first term, his wife told White House staff, "Please preserve the furniture and decoration at the White House as they are. We will return in four years." Cleveland won the presidential election in 1892 and returned to the White House. Rumors are circulating that former U.S. President Bill Clinton might run for president again. Certain analysts say his wife Hillary lost the Democratic Party`s nomination in the party`s 2008 national convention due to antipathy against "the Clintons` third term."

In Brazil, odds are rising that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who left office with an approval rating near 90 percent, will run again in 2014. Discussion has flared up over his possible return mainly due to the incompetence of his successor, Dilma Vana Rousseff.

Singapore`s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who served as prime minister for 31 years from 1959, effectively acted as regent under the title "senior minister" in the Cabinet under his son Lee Hsien Loong, who has been the island-nation`s third leader since August 2004.

In May 2008, then Russian President Vladimir Putin handed over power to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, his political scion. Putin, 59, met Medvedev, 46, in 1990 and appointed the latter as his chief secretary wherever he went. Medvedev is Putin`s university alumnus and hails from the same hometown. A highly bossy type, Putin had many followers but apparently trusted Medvedev, who respected him like a father, more than anyone else.

An old saying has it that even a father and son cannot share power, but Putin and Medvedev are poised to swap the roles of president and prime minister. The two said they reached an agreement a long time ago about what they will do and what posts they will take. While Putin has served as prime minister over the past four years due to Russia`s ban on a third consecutive term as president, Medvedev apparently kept the Kremlin without causing serious problems. Russians also apparently prefer Putin, a skier-turned-politician and judoka, over Medvedev, who is like a model student, or Mikhail Gorbachev, who appears rather weak. Nevertheless, it is odd to see a man who led a country for eight years seek a third term in a so-called democratic country.

Editorial Writer Ha Tae-won (triplets@donga.com)