The Diet has completed a round of plenary debates on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's policy speech -- the first full-dress parliamentary exchanges since he launched his second Cabinet following the June 25 Lower House election. But the prime minister has only disappointed the people. He fell far short of showing a credible road map for the nation as it moves toward the 21st century. In particular, his "Japanese renaissance plan" has failed to convince the public, for all its laudable intentions, because he was unable to explain clearly how he is going to implement it.

Public confidence in the Mori administration, and in his Liberal Democratic Party, is wavering again, just a month after the launch of his new Cabinet. The cause this time is the resignation of the chairman of the Financial Reconstruction Commission, Mr. Kimitaka Kuze, who was forced to step down over a money scandal. Opposition parties fired a broadside at Mr. Mori's decision to appoint Mr. Kuze as the nation's top financial regulator. But the prime minister offered perfunctory apologies that only revealed he is insensitive to his responsibility for making such a Cabinet appointment.

Mr. Mori admitted that he had named Mr. Kuze with full knowledge of his dubious financial background. The prime minister apologized for "appointing a man who would be forced to resign," and emphasized that he will do his utmost to "fulfill my responsibilities in full unity with the Cabinet." These statements, read almost directly from a prepared text, did not help to alleviate growing public skepticism over his integrity and leadership as the nation's top official.