[Editorial] The Second Anniversary of Roh’s Presidency: Achievements and Mismanagement

The second anniversary of President Roh Moo-hyun’s inauguration is just four days away. The day should be a day to celebrate for President Roh and the ruling camp. However, most citizens see the anniversary of his inauguration as an evaluation day of the performance of the president and the administration. It is a public right to evaluate how the president who gained his mandate from the public managed the country for the past two years.

According to a survey conducted by this newspaper, the score that President Roh gained after two years of conducting state affairs stayed at 55.9, with 100 being a perfect score. It is a score that would satisfy nobody. That fuels concern in that a failed president translates into a failed country. Moreover, a negative evaluation that he is not doing well in conducting state affairs reached a majority of 52.3 percent. The major reasons for the negative evaluation are insufficient leadership and the predominance of reformist forces in the ruling party and the government. It is fair to say that it has became clear who is at fault and who should reflect on that.

President Roh and the ruling camp should consider the anniversary as a day on which they should refrain from celebration, and do much reflecting instead. The public will be able to entertain hopes only when the president, who received a shameful evaluation, reflects on that and tries to change. The government should take this opportunity to clear its record of trial and error, punctuated with division and conflict, and become a government which does not reverse the tide of public opinion. The public offers the direction in which the government should move towards. The government should not take lightly the fact that the vast majority of the public believe economic recovery is the top priority on the national agenda.

The public points out and criticizes a president’s faults because it wants its leader to successfully lead the nation. Only a handful of people would reveal their unfavorable feelings toward their president with an immature mindset. The president should take his severe evaluation as candid advice for the country’s future.

It is not difficult to understand why the opposition Grand National Party announced the 10 good achievements along with the 10 mismanagements of the administration. The public expects the president to focus on the unity, like the “pursuit of anti-authoritarianism,” a positive goal with which the opposition camp has no option but to agree.