Sunday, May 17, 2009

When Hatoyama Yukio Wins, We All...

...win?

Banyan, The Economist's brand new anonymous column, is right on the ball with the implications of the results of yesterday's election of Hatoyama Yukio as leader of the Democratic Party of Japan. The next election of the House of Representatives, a crucial one for the future of Japan, will be fought out in the main between two parties of largely similar policy programs. One of the parties is led by an immensely wealthy grandson of a former conservative party prime minister, and the other is led by an immensely wealthy grandson of a former conservative party prime minister. One of these princelings 's tongue frequently gets tied in knots when he is trying to explain himself and the corruption of his colleagues, while the other's tongue frequently gets tied in knots when he is trying to explain himself and the corruption of his colleagues.

This is what we are supposed to call "a choice."

Ozawa Ichirō successfully crammed Hatoyama's election down the throats of his party and the nation. As a result, we are all the poorer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree. These are the moments when Ozawa comes into his own in: 1) playing hardball with great skill; 2) making bad decisions; 3) making enemies. It's a shame indeed, as he does so much else right.