Ma's Inaguration Speech

From English translations of his speech and commentary I've read, in short, my semi-optimistic look on Ma has now become pessimistic. All of that "Taiwan-first" talk during his campaign was hardly mentioned in his speech. Remember the talk about putting interests of Taiwan first, and listening to the people of Taiwan? Well, in his speech...

In resolving cross-strait issues, what matters is not sovereignty but core values and way of life.

Sovereignty and democracy go hand in hand. Sovereignty does not mean declaring independence, but it is what Taiwan currently has in its de facto sovereign state. So to say sovereignty doesn't matter, well then he's saying the people of Taiwan's right to decide for itself doesn't matter either. For a "Harvard-educated lawyer," that all the Western media like to tout him as, it's sad he failed to recognize the link between sovereignty and democracy.

Oh, and apparently Ma offended one of the pro-KMT aborigines with some sort of Han Chinese is better than all other sub-ethnic groups, and so that guy walked out in the middle of his speech. e-Props to him for standing up.