Friday, August 31, 2007

Abe's new role

Mr. Abe commented about constitution revision in an answer at a press conference at the Kantei on Thursday.

"For these three years, my thinking is unchanged that we must, together with the people, have a wide and deep debate about the new constitution."

This was reported in a minute article on pg. 4 of Yomiuri, together with a cartoon that portrayed a shell-shocked and disheveled Mr. Abe emerging from the wreck of building labeled "Upper House election" clutching a placard labeled "constitution revision" to his breast. The caption reads, "Only this is always carried?"

And that's how it feels. After the ideological excesses of the first Abe Cabinet — and the reaction that was the Upper House election — the old slogans just don't seem all that relevant. This seems to be the basis for a new division of labor in the post-reshuffle Abe government. Every once in a while Mr. Abe will be placed in front of a microphone to talk about creating a beautiful country and to admonish the country to consider constitution revision, while in the meantime his cabinet full of serious men will go about the business of governing the country.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm fully convinced that Abe wants the glory of seeing the constitution changed right at the end of the three-year moratorium. I hope I am right. If he continues to push this issue at the expense of more pressing problems, then he may be toast sooner rather than later. I, for one, want to see him ride this issue all the way to the next election. It will give the opposition more than a fighting chance.