Democrats Losing Big In Japan Too

While the big story is the guy who seemed a sleepy, do nothing, care-taking prime minister until a real power politician could emerge to continue to run Japan, Inc has handily retained power, the more invisible story is the Democrats fell from 175 lower house seats in the last parliment to only 113 in the next.

What is about Democrats these days? They seem to be losing their seats no matter what country they are in?

"We did not expect this," said Katsuya Okada, who resigned early Monday as leader of the Democrats. "I don't think our policies were wrong, but we must reconsider our tactics."

Hmmm. Seems to be almost the same thing we heard during the last election.

The opposition's meltdown was all the more stunning because it came despite a high voter turnout, which usually plays in its favor.

"They had their shot and they blew it," said Gerald Curtis, a Japanese politics expert at Columbia University. "The LDP was and still is ready to be overthrown - the problem is it's been overthrown by its own president rather than the opposition."

So does this mean that we have to hope for change to come within the Republican party?