From his leftist or
"statist" perch, Bo has been challenging the "opening and
reform" side of the political consensus that Deng Xiaoping secured three
decades ago. Wen Jiabao, meanwhile, who plays the role of a learned, emphatic,
and upright Confucian prime minister, has been challenging the other half of
Deng consensus -- absolute political control -- from the liberal right. He has
continuously articulated the need to limit government power through rule of law,
justice, and democratization. To do this, he has drawn on the symbolic legacies
of the purged reformist leaders he served in the 1980s, particularly Hu
Yaobang, whose name he recently helped to "rehabilitate" in
official discourse. As every Communist Party leader knows, those who want a
stake in the country's future must first fight for control of its past.