The economy, stupid!

It’s the economy, stupid! To people reading about the Taiwanese presidential election in foreign newspapers, it was all a matter of relations to China and possible parallels with Tibet. But what Taiwanese people really cared about was the sluggish state of the economy and the corruption scandals of the current DPP regime. My man, Ma Ying-jiu, won a very decisive victory in the end (60 % of the vote) and DPP was never even close.

Giving his victory speech behind a screen of bullet proof glass, Ma looked tired and a bit worried. In general he seems like a gentle and pretty soft guy (and is often accused of being indecisive). But perhaps gentle and soft is just what’s needed right now. I’m fed up with tough-talking nationalists.

DPP’s big mistake was to think politically rather than economically. They see the world in terms of zero-sum power-struggles — with KMT, with the Mainland — and forget that many issues actually can be solved to mutual advantage. Specifically, they have no sense of what economic growth and long-term prosperity require. People were rightly worried. In the end millions and millions of ordinary Taiwanese put their faith in Ma. Rightly so I think.

It’s the economy, stupid! To people reading about the Taiwanese presidential election in foreign newspapers, it was all a matter of relations to China and possible parallels with Tibet. But what Taiwanese people really cared about was the sluggish state of the economy and the corruption scandals of the current DPP regime. My man, Ma Ying-jiu, won a very decisive victory in the end (60 % of the vote) and DPP was never even close.

Giving his victory speech behind a screen of bullet proof glass, Ma looked tired and a bit worried. In general he seems like a gentle and pretty soft guy (and is often accused of being indecisive). But perhaps gentle and soft is just what’s needed right now. I’m fed up with tough-talking nationalists.

DPP’s big mistake was to think politically rather than economically. They see the world in terms of zero-sum power-struggles — with KMT, with the Mainland — and forget that many issues actually can be solved to mutual advantage. Specifically, they have no sense of what economic growth and long-term prosperity require. People were rightly worried. In the end millions and millions of ordinary Taiwanese put their faith in Ma. Rightly so I think.