内閣支持急落―「やる気」が疑われている

2010/11/17
--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 16
EDITORIAL: Kan's approval rating
内閣支持急落―「やる気」が疑われている

The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan took a nose dive to 27 percent in an Asahi Shimbun poll over the weekend.
　菅直人内閣の支持率が急落した。朝日新聞社の世論調査では２７％だ。

The opposition camp continues to play hardball, and the government's supplementary budget bill is expected to clear the Lower House without support from New Komeito, whose cooperation the administration had counted on.
　野党は態度を硬化させ、補正予算案は政権が期待した公明党の賛成も得られないまま、衆院を通過する。

What lessons should the Kan administration infer from the latest figure? The reasons for the fall need to be analyzed.
　この数字の変化に、菅政権はどんな教訓を読み取るべきか。急落の理由を腑分（ふわ）けして考える必要がある。

First, the people were critical of the administration's policy choices and decisions.
　一つは、政策判断や選択に対する批判である。

If the criticism concerned divisive issues on which the administration had to make truly tough calls, we believe the administration should just bite the bullet and move on.
　賛否の割れる難しい課題について、政権がぎりぎりの決断を下した結果に対する批判であれば、それは腹をくくって引き受けるしかない。

There is no question the administration took a big hit for its handling of an incident triggered by a Chinese trawler ramming two Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels off the disputed Senkaku Islands.
　尖閣諸島事件をめぐる対応が強い批判を浴びていることは間違いないが、

However, the administration is also responsible for preventing further outbreaks of nationalistic sentiment that have erupted in both Japan and China. There is no easy answer to how this responsibility should be handled.
一方で政権は日中双方のナショナリズムの無益な沸騰や衝突を防ぐ責務も負う。その是非は気軽に一刀両断にできるものではない。

If these were the factors that caused the approval rating to plummet, the Cabinet need not fret.
　こうした批判に起因する急落なら、実はまだ救いがある。

But there are also other factors the Kan administration should really be worried about.
　下落の大きな理由、菅政権にとってより深刻な理由は、別にある。

Of the Asahi poll respondents who did not approve of the Cabinet's job performance, only 20-plus percent cited "policy" as their reason, while more than 60 percent cited "lack of ability to execute policy."
　本紙調査では、不支持と答えた人のうち、理由に「政策」を挙げた人は２割強にとどまる。６割を超える人が選んだのは、「実行力」だった。

Does the administration lack the ability to get things done? Or is the real issue whether it is serious about implementing the measures it has promised? We have to presume this was the question those respondents had in mind.
　政策を遂行する力量があるか。いやそもそも、その気があるのか。そこに疑問を抱かれていると解釈せざるを得ない。

Indeed, the Kan administration has done many things to invite that question.
　確かにそう思われても仕方のない対応が目につきすぎる。

On the "money and politics" issue, for instance, the Democratic Party of Japan-led administration has never gotten former party leader Ichiro Ozawa to explain himself before the Diet. The administration has resumed taking corporate and group donations, and is so far unsuccessful in achieving intraparty consensus on proposed pay cuts for Diet members.
　政治とカネの問題では、小沢一郎元代表の国会での説明も実現できない。企業・団体献金は受け入れを再開した。国会議員の歳費削減に党内合意を取り付けることにも難渋している。

On the Senkaku issue, the Kan administration has given the nation the impression that it would prefer to pass the buck to prosecutors and the Japan Coast Guard.
　尖閣事件では、政治が負うべき責任を検察や海上保安庁に押しつけている、といった印象を与えている。

Having thus dithered and stumbled repeatedly, the administration has lost public support, which in turn has diminished its ability to implement policies. This is a vicious cycle, indeed.
　そうしたことの繰り返しで支持を失い、そのためさらに実行力が弱まる。負のスパイラルである。

Could it be that the DPJ is still unused to governing?
　いまさらながら、すべては民主党の不慣れのせいということか。

Not only does the Kan administration lack the experience to forge a consensus as the ruling party, but it is also without the sort of power that comes from strength in numbers as exercised by Ozawa and Liberal Democratic Party faction leaders of the past. And where diplomacy is concerned, experience is largely what produces sound decisions.
　与党として合意形成を進めていく経験が足りないうえに、菅政権は小沢氏やかつての自民党の派閥領袖（りょうしゅう）のような数の力も持たない。外交上の判断も、経験によって磨かれる面が大きい。

That said, however, time has already expired for the DPJ administration to keep using "lack of practice" as an excuse.
　しかし、もう「けいこ不足」を言い訳にできる時期は過ぎた。

The only way the Kan administration can hope to regain its footing is to implement its policies one by one and let the results speak for themselves.
　政策を実行し、ひとつずつでも結果を有権者に見せていくしかあるまい。それを通じてしか、政権の基盤は固め直せないだろう。

Instead of trying to do everything at once, the administration must prioritize, focus on each issue, and set itself to forging a consensus.
　あれもこれもと多くに手を出さず、課題に優先順位をつけてしぼり込む。覚悟を決めることが肝心だ。そこに政権が持てる力を集中し、合意形成に向けて周到な手を打っていく。

The worst possible thing the Kan administration could do would be to get flustered by this sudden drop in popularity and make even more blunders.
　逆に最悪なのは、支持率急落にたじろぎ、党内で異論が噴出し、さらに迷走を重ねることである。