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Politics set adrift when political leaders lack conviction

Ever since Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's administration was inaugurated last September, what has always stuck in my mind is the answer that Fukuda gave when asked, at the debate for Liberal Democratic Party presidential candidates, what is the most important trait of a political leader. Fukuda answered, "Knowing when to stay and when to go." I would now like to ask Prime Minister Fukuda, "Does 'knowing when to stay and when to go' mean running away when the going gets tough?"

Last September, when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned abruptly after delivering his policy speech, he was frowned upon by the public for being so irresponsible. But in Abe's case, there was the revelation that his health was deteriorating due to a large intestine disorder.

But Fukuda cannot avoid being condemned for being even more irresponsible than Abe for the way that he has dumped his administration. Fukuda cited the political horse-trading that has created a stalemate in the Diet as the reason for his resignation, but horse-trading is part and parcel of party politics. It is hard to find an instance in a mature democratic state where futile discussions led directly to a leader's resignation.

Politics has been described as the "art of the possible." All political decisions are made possible after only discussion, revision, and compromise with opposing forces. Fukuda stressed that he had devoted himself to reforms from the people's perspective through his proposals to use funds from the general budget to finance road construction projects, and to establish a consumer agency. But to the very end, he did not convey a passion for implementing his policies.

The indifference that has allowed two LDP prime ministers in a row to abandon their post is a sign that the ruling party does not possess leaders who desire to lead the country with deeply held convictions, and reveals that the party has been set adrift.

The LDP has remained in power for so long due to a national security environment supported by the Japan-U.S. alliance, and its role in leading the distribution of the fruits of rapid economic growth. However, at a time of chaos in international politics, the economy, and domestic society, it appears that the LDP has lost sight of the path that it should follow.

When the Diet is divided, a political party has a duty to give voters the opportunity to choose an administration after deepening discussion and arriving at a conclusion, beginning with the debate over fiscal policy between "rising tiders" and fiscal reconstructionists. A brand of politics that cowers in the face of internal party strife, not to speak of discussions between the ruling and opposition parties, and abandons its responsibility, is not a politics that the people will want to entrust their future to.

It was former LDP Vice President Shin Kanemaru who said that political leaders can be divided into those who lead in times of peace, those who lead in times of upheaval, and those who lead in times of massive upheaval. Prime Minister Fukuda's sudden abandonment of his administration is a tragedy that befalls a party that turns to a mediocre and conventional consensus-maker in a time of massive upheaval. It is also a tragedy for the Japanese people, who only have such leaders to turn to. (By Hiroshi Komatsu, Managing Editor, Political News Department, Mainichi Shimbun)

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