Word: chen
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...Taiwan's voters to the polls this December and lead his Democratic People's Party (DPP) to a legislative plurality. Great leaders like Roosevelt, Mao and Chiang Kai-shek had that ability to reach through whatever medium they were using and connect with their people. For Chen, successful at everything he has done, finding a way to make that connection is proving his greatest challenge. You can't bone up on empathy or cram your way into the hearts and minds of your voters...
...better reach out, Chen has reached in, exploring his own emotional core. "I've been through hardships and failures," he says, citing his 1985 loss in Tainan county, a prison stay in 1986 for libel, his 1998 second term mayoral loss in Taipei. "I can't say that every great leader must go through hardship, but I know that it makes me a better leader...
...talks often about his dark past, about the struggles and the hard times, in particular about the car accident that left his wife paralyzed. They were on a tour of Tainan county to thank supporters in an election he had just lost. His wife, Wu Shu-chen, a narrow-framed woman with a thin face, was walking at the head of the party, Chen was toward the back. A black truck came roaring around a corner and struck Wu, running over her legs. The driver stopped, put the truck in reverse and then backed over her. Chen swears...
...this crucible of familial tragedy and personal suffering, he grew a little, acquired dimensions and depth he had been lacking. It brought out the best in Chen. And it illuminated him as to the complexities and nuances of life's journey. His own course, despite electoral setbacks and political difficulties, had been a jagged upward sheer. Or, as his wife says, "Our lives were perfect before the accident." And suddenly he understood that life was fraught with hardships, even for an A-student who thought he had been diligently preparing for all of life's great tests. In some sense...
...Chen Shui-bian will face a mandate on his presidency in early December when all 225 seats of the Legislative Yuan come up for grabs. Until now, Chen's ability to push through a legislative program and stamp a new imprint on Taiwanese society has been stymied by the KMT's hold on a majority of parliamentary seats. His own DPP controls barely one-third of the seats. Since no party is likely to win a majority in the vote, taking 80 or 85 seats in the Yuan would be a crucial gain for Chen and his DPP. It would...