Aso's postal move indicates his lack of clout
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Following hints from Aso, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura and others tried to hammer out ways to mollify Hatoyama. Their proposals included demoting Nishikawa from his present position to the post of operating officer in charge of practical business affairs and having Nishikawa write a letter to Hatoyama expressing regret for his acts and apologizing.
However, Hatoyama spurned these ideas. "Why don't you just dismiss me? Reshuffle the Cabinet or dismiss me--do whatever you want," he said.
On Thursday, Oshima reportedly called Hatoyama, urging him to accept the compromises.
Hatoyama snapped back at Oshima, telling him: "I'll resign. That'll solve the situation, right?"
Trying to win Hatoyama round, Oshima said, "If you resign now, the Aso administration will come apart at the seams."
But the minister did not listen.
Asked at a press conference Friday afternoon about the reasons for the decision to fire Hatoyama, Kawamura said, "We can't deny that his comments and attitude dominated things and confused public opinion."
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Hatoyama, however, had been a close ally of Aso and has been the head of Aso's election strategy team since the 2006 LDP presidential election. He also is the chairman of Taro-kai, a group of lawmakers who support the prime minister.
On Friday afternoon, Aso reportedly said to Hatoyama when he brought his resignation letter: "You worked as the head of the election strategy headquarters during my hardest time. This is so sad. It's a pity."
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It looks like the Aso Cabinet is definitely collapsing...
I can't even comprehend why Hatoyama Kunio acted the way he did, except perhaps he was acting under the influences of his brother Hatoyama Yukio, current president of the Democratic Party of Japan. There are rumors that Hatoyama Kunio may possibly leave the LDP and defect over to the DPJ as a full-fledged member, then help the DPJ achieve victory in the upcoming general election. Perhaps, he will even get a seat in the possible DPJ-led government if they were to win the general elections which seems inevitable. The only thing the Aso Cabinet can do at this point is to stall time and delay the general elections as that they will most likely lose if a general election were to take place anytime. To be honest, I am somewhat interested as to how a Hatoyama-led government would turn out to be. A mix of conservative policies with socialist policies may seem interesting..
Truth is.. When it comes to domestic policies, I think the socialist approach may work out in Japan but for international affairs and foreign policies, it is best to stick to the conservative approach as that there are nations out there that aren't very friendly..