Although the Kan administration managed to get the fiscal 2010 supplementary budget enacted during the latest Diet session, which ended Friday after 64 days, Prime Minister Naoto Kan failed to help generate meaningful exchanges of opinion between the ruling and opposition forces on important domestic and diplomatic issues.
Mr. Kan and Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Katsuya Okada demonstrated incompetence when it came to working out strategy and careful approaches to get cooperation from opposition forces, which control the Upper House. As a result, Mr. Kan had to give up on enacting bills to change the shape of the privatized Japan Post, the most important bills for his Cabinet.
Although the opposition forces share part of the responsibility for the poor performances of the latest Diet session, the main blame should be put to Mr. Kan and Mr. Okada, who have the responsibility to lead the Cabinet and the DPJ, respectively, when they cope with the opposition forces in the divided Diet.
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