18Brumaire buried Lee Myung-bak too soon

18Brumaire wrote off Lee Myung-bak too soon. Nonetheless we stand behind our prediction that he hasn't got too many days left as occupier of the Blue House. His cabinet in true Confucian style offered its resignation en masse. It won't be accepted; faced with a candlelit demonstration of 80.000 over, Lee knows time is running out for him. Herr Bush isn't going to help him; he won't rescind nor renegotiate the deal to reintroduce US beef to South Korea. If Lee had any sense of irony, he would've taken a page out of Japan's book. Tokyo agreed to allow importation of US beef again in 2006; its inspectors found impurities in the beef, and quickly banned it. Had Lee any political savvy, he could've done as much, and enhanced his reputation as a forceful leader. Well, Lee hasn't such qualities, and as a result, he's boxed himself into a corner. US ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow hasn't helped matters, too. Herr Bush's gauleiter is tone deaf and with a missive slap on the face he spoke these very words: Koreans 'begin to learn more about the science and facts of American beef'; if they did, he went on to twist the knife of insult into Korea's respect for high quality beef, then they could deal with the matter 'constructively'. And there you have it; gauleiter Vershbow is not only tone deaf and arrogant but acts like the cock of the walk of an imperial lord. With a friend like this, Lee's career offers little hope of survival.