I was in the US during the Obama 2008 Campaign, and the main message besides the "Yes, We Can" was the phrase "We are not the red states nor the blue states, but we are the UNITED States of America". In a sense, that is what we need now in Singapore, we need a leader who can heal the division within the country. Just think about how we fight here in this little forum, to the extent that we forget that we are first and foremost Singaporeans, and party supporters second. May be that is the reason why I felt very disappointed with LTK not appearing at the 50th anniversary of the Operation Coldstore. It could have been a symbolic day of healing of the past and the present. Anyway, lets pray for a leader to appear on the horizon who can, perhaps, unite this country.
I can't believe you're saying this. Like I said before, I want SDP to do well, but you comparing SDP to Obama reflects a lack of understanding of political reality. If there is anybody who is like Obama, it is the Worker's party. Obama is a centrist. Much like you say WP paid lip service to the abolition of the ISD, Obama paid lip service to the closing of Guantanamo. That never happened. Obama is in many ways a compromiser in the mould of WP.
The romance of the Obama story is that he is black. (Actually he is half white but nevermind, he's black under the one drop rule). Singapore, in contrast, is further down along the line of minority race representation than America was in 2008. We have the GRC, which ostensibly reinforces a balanced minority in parliament. (When I look at the minority representation in the US congress, it didn't look like black people were underrepresented in congress.) As a digression, I looked through the election results and it seemed to me that the PAP had on average one woman in each GRC. Now if GRCs were really about representations of minorities, then you really should have another law that says that every GRC should have at least two women. Otherwise what the fuck is GRC really about. Anyway, we have Indians in the cabinet, we have a Malay in cabinet, when it comes to holding the highest office, then Singapore is not that far away from having an Indian PM, since we already have an Indian DPM.
There are other romantic stories from the WP, such as, a GRC falling for the first time, LLL being a former 'N' level candidate in parliament. Obama is great at grassroots. His election campaign managed to raise a huge amount of funds, he picked the right message. During 2008, he stayed above the fray of negative attacking - Hillary Clinton, who was Obama's real opponent (not John McCain - there was no way a Republican could have won that election) faltered because she went on the negative attack ads on Obama. It's a bit like Chee Soon Juan openly talking about "opposition unity" and so obviously not walking the talk, and Low Thia Khiang repeatedly refusing to respond likewise to him.
Like WP, Obama is probably better at grassroots than legislation. He's not great at it. Yes, he managed to pass health care, but he failed in a lot of other things, like gun control, most recently. He doesn't openly advocate progressive causes, but when the momentum for them builds up, he just follows. I think WP is like that. When it came to Libya, he "led from the back". When it came to gay rights, he also - well "leading from the back" is too homophobic, so I'll say instead that he used the term "my views are evolving".
What I sill say is this: SDP has a very poor understanding of how to get its message across. They are too wonky. I wish them well but when other people on this forum say that SDP doesn't know how to get its message across, I don't have an answer to that. I read this book a few years ago:
http://www.amazon.com/Political-Brain-Emotion-Deciding-Nation/dp/1586485733
The author is probably leaning democrat. And he was sick and tired of the way that the Democrats were crafting their message over the years. The WP knows how to target the gut level instincts. SDP doesn't know how to do that yet. Maybe Wijeysingha does, but the rest of them don't yet. Naturally our dear national library has no more than 1-2 copies of it. So you might be reading the same copy that I read. Probably doesn't want opposition parties to get their hands on it too easily. The subtitle is "the role of emotion in deciding the fate of the nation." SDP appeals to the brain far too much for your own good. I think that you guys should really really read that book and learn from it. You should understand how the Democratic party managed to make a lot of gains in the 2008 and 2012 elections by making the likeability factor an important issue.
Low Thia Khiang made the "healing of a nation" an issue, and he used the co-driver analogy. He cast himself as the friend who is willing to tell the leaders when they're wrong, but still not taking over the wheel. It is a reassuring story, one that is targetted at the people who wonder if politics in Singapore are going to be fractious and divided with the advances of the opposition. LTK is not going to go in all guns blazing, he's going to do a few friendly nudges here and there. But of course the more astute among us are going to wonder if he's going to do anything at all. The fact is that people still cherish the notion of a harmonious parliament (witness the picture that the WP took together with LKY during the parliament inauguration - very powerful message that even LKY understands that he cannot ignore). And WP is the party closest to getting that message right.