Thursday, June 03, 2010

DPJ Schism in the Works?

The other Magistrates, all with arms-length or worse relationships with Ozawa, appear to have lined up behind Kan, who was supposed to be in good standing with Ozawa. Is this about DPJ 1.0 reasserting its DPJ-ness against tenant-turned-squatter Ozawa and his allies? Stay tuned。

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Really can't happen ahead of the election and, while Ozawa might not like it, it may well serve to deflect all media attention from the LDP and even the splinter parties in the run up to the election. If it hurts the LDP there is some value in it for Ozawa.

Jun Okumura said...

Ross:

I don’t see a formal split either, not any time soon. But Kan’s speech was noticeably cool towards Ozawa (with his trademark snideness that few of Kan’s contemporaries can match), and six of the Seven Magistrates—Shinji Tarudoko being the exception; perhaps his four years out of office between 2004 (the Okada election) and 2009 (the Ozawa-Hatoyama election) softened him up for Ozawa’s charms—swiftly lined up behind Kan. And yes, this is actually a good story—necessary even—for the DPJ, and yes, it also keeps the spotlight off the rest. In fact, the whole affair including Hatoyama’s last thirteen steps down has hogged the headlines, which has not been good for the startups.