民主党政権総括 政治の劣化を招いた「脱官僚」

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Nov. 19, 2012)
Political system damaged by DPJ's aversion to bureaucracy
民主党政権総括　政治の劣化を招いた「脱官僚」（11月18日付・読売社説）

　◆一体改革法成立は歴史的成果だ◆

The first thing the Democratic Party of Japan should do before the Dec. 16 House of Representatives election is review its past three years and two months in power. Can the DPJ do serious soul-searching on the plethora of issues it has mishandled and reflect the lessons learned in its campaign pledges for the upcoming election?
　衆院選前にまず行うべきは、３年２か月に及ぶ民主党政権の総括だ。数々の失政を真剣に反省して、その教訓を新たな主張に反映できるのかが民主党に問われている。

The public approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was as high as 75 percent when it was inaugurated after the 2009 lower house election. Public approval of the current administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has declined to just 24 percent, showing how the public's initial high expectations of the DPJ were dashed after the change of government.
　読売新聞世論調査では、鳩山内閣発足時の支持率が７５％だったのに対し、現在の野田内閣は２４％。政権交代に対する国民の期待の大きさと失望の広がりを物語る。

Under the DPJ government, the nation's politics have continued to suffer from confusion and stagnation, and this is not just because the Diet is divided. It is mostly because the party is incapable of managing the government.
　民主党政権で政治の混乱と停滞が続いたのは、衆参ねじれ国会だけでなく、政権担当能力の未熟さに起因する部分が大きい。

　◆数々の失政を反省せよ◆

This was symbolized by the DPJ's failed manifesto for the last general election. After reviewing its pledges, the party concluded that only 53 of them--including making tuition at public high schools free--had been implemented during its tenure. The figure represents only about 30 percent of the 170 original promises.
　その象徴が、政権公約（マニフェスト）の破綻だ。民主党自身の検証でも、１７０件の政策のうち実現できたのは、高校無償化など５３件、約３割にとどまる。

The DPJ has many things to reflect on. Among its blunders, it was extremely optimistic to believe it could secure 16.8 trillion yen a year just through tweaking spending plans. It also suffered a setback in seeking to cancel construction of the Yamba Dam in Gunma Prefecture because it made the decision without consulting parties involved.
　予算組み替えで「年１６・８兆円の財源確保が可能」とした甘い見通し、関係者との事前調整なしに掲げた「八ッ場ダムの建設中止」の挫折など、反省点は多い。

The DPJ's misguided "politician-led policymaking" have caused the administration to repeatedly malfunction.
　誤った「政治主導」は、政府の機能を大幅に低下させた。

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DPJ should reflect on blunders

Its budget screening initiative turned out to be nothing more than politicians playing to the gallery by bashing bureaucrats, and the process squeezed out only a limited amount of fiscal resources.
　事業仕分けは、官僚たたきのパフォーマンスに過ぎず、捻出できた財源は限定的だった。

Based on an opposition-like stance, the DPJ took a hostile of view of bureaucrats and shunned the bureaucracy in deciding and carrying out policies. This weakened both the political and bureaucratic systems because public servants only awaited instructions from ministers, and politicians were not informed of important matters.
　野党的体質から官僚を敵視し、「脱官僚」を進めた結果、官僚は指示待ちになる一方、政治家には重要情報が入らず、政官双方の劣化を招いた。

This problem became particularly apparent following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, when Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet failed to respond promptly. This caused confusion in helping the people in the disaster-hit areas and in dealing with the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
菅内閣での東日本大震災の被災者支援や原発事故対応の遅れと混乱が典型例だ。

Politicians are supposed to fully utilize bureaucrats and try to bring out their best.
　政治家は本来、官僚を使いこなし、その能力を最大限引き出すことにこそ、腐心すべきだ。

When it comes to nuclear energy, the DPJ initially said operations of reactors should be resumed once their safety was confirmed. However, the party abruptly proposed an infeasible zero-nuclear power policy instead, and caused widespread confusion due to insufficient coordination with the United States and domestic local governments that host nuclear power plants.
　当初は、安全性を確認した原発は活用するとしていたのに、場当たり的に非現実的な「原発ゼロ」方針を掲げ、米国や関係自治体との調整不足から迷走を重ねた。

On the economic front, the DPJ could not propose an effective growth strategy even though it promised to revive the nation's economy. It also failed to work together with the business community.
　経済再生を掲げながら実効性ある成長戦略を打ち出せず、経済界との足並みもそろわなかった。

Under the slogan "from concrete to people," the government has slashed spending on public works projects from 7.1 trillion yen for fiscal 2009 to 4.6 trillion yen for fiscal 2012--a decrease that has battered local economies.
　「コンクリートから人」のスローガンの下、政府の公共事業費は当初予算ベースで２００９年度の７・１兆円から１２年度の４・６兆円に減り、地方は疲弊した。

Furthermore, because of other problematic policies such as those for budgetary handouts, the general account appropriations in the initial fiscal 2012 state budget have swollen to 96.7 trillion yen, including budgets for restoration from the Great East Japan Earthquake and related expenditures, from 88.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2009.
　一方で、それ以外のバラマキ政策などによって、一般会計当初予算は、０９年度の８８・５兆円から１２年度は実質９６・７兆円（復興費などを含む）に膨張している。

With the issuance of deficit-covering bonds having exceeded 30 trillion yen every year in recent years, government finances have deteriorated steadily as shown by the fact that the outstanding balance of government debts is expected to reach 709 trillion yen at the end of this fiscal year--a drastic jump from fiscal 2009's 594 trillion yen.
　毎年３０兆円超の赤字国債発行により財政は一層悪化し、国債発行残高は５９４兆円から今年度末に７０９兆円に増える見通しだ。

Former DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa, meanwhile, has failed to take responsibility even after his former secretaries were found guilty in September 2011 of charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law, tarnishing the public's image of the DPJ as a clean party.
　小沢一郎元代表は、元秘書３人が政治資金規正法違反で有罪になっても責任を取らず、民主党のクリーンなイメージを傷つけた。

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Persistent intraparty wrangling
　◆党内対立が常に続いた◆

Within the ruling party, there was nonstopwrangling between pro-Ozawa and anti-Ozawa party members regarding DPJ's policies.
　党内では「親小沢対反小沢」の路線対立が続いた。

The intraparty disarray stemmed mainly from the party's failure at the time of its 2003 merger with the Liberal Party, in which top priority was placed on cobbling together non-Liberal Democratic Party political forces without the spadework of reconciling political ideals and key policies among them.
０３年の自由党との合併時に非自民勢力の結集を優先し、理念や政策をすり合わせなかったことのツケと言える。

An opposition party can cover up intraparty policy differences, but a party in power, charged with implementing policies, cannot.
　野党なら党内の政策の違いを糊塗(こと)できるが、政策を実行する与党はそうはいかない。

The split within the DPJ in early July over the issue of raising the consumption tax rate showed the party's internal contradictions had reached a critical point.
消費税率引き上げをめぐる党の分裂は、内部矛盾が臨界点に達したものだ。

None of the party executives, including Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi, made any move to assume responsibility for the party's split.
しかし、輿石幹事長ら執行部は、誰も責任を取ろうとしなかった。

The DPJ's policymaking process continued to falter as shown by a decision to abolish the Policy Research Committee, which was subsequently reversed by another decision to reinstate the panel, ostensibly to beef up its functions.
　党政策調査会が廃止、復活を経て強化されるなど、政策決定システムも安定しなかった。

Although animated intraparty discussions were held, they often ended up failing to reach a timely conclusion.
　活発に議論はするが、期限に結論が出ない。

DPJ legislators frequently turned their backs on what had earlier been decided within the party, revisiting issues that had been settled once.
決定事項に従わず、過去の経緯を踏まえず議論を蒸し返す。

And because the party did not take minutes of its meetings, intraparty discussions failed to be cumulative, resulting in superficial debates. Almost every time policies were discussed within the party, its immature political culture was brought to light.
議事録がないため議論が蓄積されず、深まらない。党内の政策論議のたびに民主党の未熟な政治文化が露呈した。

In addition, the DPJ's confused handling of diplomatic policy harmed the country's national interests.
　外交の迷走は国益を損ねた。

The muddle involving the issue of relocating functions of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture because of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's mishandling of the matter weakened the Japan-U.S. alliance and created distrust among the people of Okinawa Prefecture. The scars remain unhealed even now.
　鳩山元首相による米軍普天間飛行場移設問題の混乱が日米同盟を弱体化させ、沖縄に不信感を残した。その傷は今も癒えない。

The diplomatic blunders of the DPJ administration were exploited by neighboring countries, as shown by the ramming of Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels off the Senkaku Islands in September 2010 by a Chinese fishing boat, the sudden visit in July 2012 by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to the northern territories off eastern Hokkaido and the visit in August this year by South Korean President Lee Myung Bak to the Takeshima islets.
　尖閣諸島沖での中国漁船衝突事件、メドベージェフ露首相の北方領土訪問、李明博韓国大統領の竹島訪問など、領土問題で近隣国につけ込まれる一因ともなった。

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Noda's historic achievements
　◆野田首相は他にも実績◆

Nevertheless, the DPJ-led administration can be credited with the historic achievement of realizing the passage of legislation on comprehensive social security and tax system reform.
　民主党政権の歴史に残る成果は社会保障・税一体改革関連法を成立させたことだ。

Although the major opposition LDP played an important role in the legislation, the driving force behind the reform was the resolve of Noda, who risked his political life fully realizing the danger of a split in the party.
自民党も重要な役割を果たしたが、野田首相が政治生命をかけて退路を断ち、党分裂という重い代償も辞さずに突き進んだことが原動力だった。

The prime minister also gave full play to his leadership in bringing the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture of Kansai Electric Power Co. back online and announcing his support of Japan's participation in multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations.
　首相は関西電力大飯原発の再稼働で指導力を発揮し、環太平洋経済連携協定（ＴＰＰ）参加問題でも積極姿勢を示した。

Noda should be credited for attaining a degree of results in spite of the pile of "adverse legacies" left by the administrations of his two predecessors, Hatoyama and Kan.
鳩山、菅政権の「負の遺産」を抱えつつ一定の実績を残したと評価できる。

On the diplomatic and national security front, the Noda Cabinet rightly revealed Japan-U.S. secrets, including one on Japan's tacit agreement to allow U.S. nuclear arms to be brought into this country, and relaxed Japan's three-point principles concerning weapons exports.
　外交・安全保障分野では、核持ち込みなどに関する日米密約を解明し、武器輸出３原則を緩和した。

These had been long-pending tasks that the LDP and New Komeito did not accomplish when they were in power, and they can safely be called positive results of the change of government.
いずれも自民・公明連立政権では実現できなかった長年の課題であり、政権交代の効用と言える。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 18, 2012)
（2012年11月18日01時24分  読売新聞）