tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post2568440490822858795..comments2023-10-09T00:45:55.603+09:00Comments on Shisaku: American Democrats Are People Too..MTChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04626942240117432624noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6714063.post-20986360947953874652007-10-26T18:26:00.000+09:002007-10-26T18:26:00.000+09:00"Current and former Bush administration officials ...<I>"Current and former Bush administration officials had insisted that Japan extend the Anti-Terrorism Law as it was, and they vilified Minshuto leader Ichiro Ozawa for his audacity in having an alternate vision of the role Japan might play."</I><BR/><BR/>That is pretty nutty too.<BR/><BR/>More to the point, are these gentlemen saying that Japanese bureaucrats have been talking to Republican legislators but not to Democratic ones? That Ambassador Kato has been snubbing Mr. Mondale but sucking up to Mr. Quayle? Or that working with whatever administration is in place is somehow an act of partisanship?<BR/><BR/>Looking beyond government to the Washington crowd, to give one example that I can be sure of, Fred Bergsten looks like a Democrat in good standing, but he has continued to receive substantial support from the Japanese corporate community throughout the Bush years. (Okay, he heads the "Petersen Institute", so maybe he's not the best of examples.)<BR/><BR/>I don't know anything about Robert Orr, but Ed Lincoln is a (quite capable) Japan hand. As such, he is probably far more useful to Americans who need people to tell them what's going on over here, rather than to Japanese who need people to tell him what's going on over there.<BR/><BR/>I've oversimplified things here, and there has no doubt been some tendency to let relations go slack when it loses some of their potency. However, the accusations seem overwrought and agenda-laden, and the lack of understanding of the facts of the issue reinforce that impression.Jun Okumurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.com