Tuesday, November 6, 2007

It's Ozawa's party now

After imploring Ozawa Ichiro to remain as head of the party, Mr. Ozawa has decided to embrace the party once again: "I want to give my best once more."

I'm still not convinced that Mr. Ozawa — a bull in a china shop if I've ever seen one — is the man to walk the tightrope between being an opposition party and cooperating with the LDP on matters of mutual concern. But the DPJ chiefs evidently think differently.

Perhaps it's time for the DPJ to consider its own (formal) factions, as a way to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. If Mr. Ozawa was obliquely trying to make the case for factional politics, he succeeded admirably. Think about it: a stable of leaders who can step in at a moment's notice, institutionalized jockeying for power, and checks on the party leader.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to think what to make of all this. Have Ozawa's acrobatics confirmed that he is uncontested as party leader and therefore the DPJ is united? Or has the controversy over his meeting Fukuda demonstrated that there is still a lot of ill-will between members?