Presidential Glamour Boy

According to the NY Times Ex South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun has become a magnet for tourists from all over the country. While in office Roh Moo-Hyun didn’t capture such adoration as he, like several of the other South Korean Presidents, left office under an umbrella of shame and embarrassment with approval ratings less than thirty percent.

So how, you may ask, has Roh spun his retirement from office into a love fest with the Korean people? Well, first, he moved back to his old town without an entourage of bodyguards and personal servants. He lives a simple life with his wife. He takes care of the garden. He takes strolls about the town and rides his bike which is in stark contrast to other ex presidents who seal themselves away from the people in Seoul’s ivory towers.

Not Roh. The people come in the thousands to stand outside his house just to say hello and to get a glimpse of their former leader. He’s like your next door neighbor, if your neighbor used to have the fate of the entire country in his hand. He’s like a rock star with groupies. I guess this is really a novelty for the Korean people and maybe, soon enough, they will get used to the idea and stop following the man every time he leaves his home.

I wonder if my own bumbling President will receive such treatment back home when he retires from office? Nah.