Ex-Obama aide criticizes Hatoyama

i don't think you can trust a man who still gets an allowance from his mommy, to the tune of 10,000,000 yen a month!

“It appears the United States will have to deal with a succession of weak, short-term cabinets there,” he wrote.

next? Ichiro Ozawa.

Hatoyama is still allowed to be politician because he (or his mommy) effectively bought his seat.

Noone like Hatoyama.

its obviously that he was the worsest PM in japanese history. I wonder why like that guy still be allowed to being politician and beside given a diplomat title.

The United States wants a Japan that says "yes" to its way of thinking. The LDP is a yes-man all the way ...

Was he the PM whose wife said she ate the sun everyday for nourishment?

Hatoyama correctly understood the current Japan-U.S. relations are like those of a suzerain and a colony -- Japan still a dependency or client state subservient to the U.S. The world community knows all about this fact. The Futenma issue snugly exemplifies this aberrant situation. Hatoyama dipped his toes into waters of these taken-for-granted foreign relations and tried to address it, only to meet with an all-out attack from Washington. Bader's book may tell a fly-on-the-wall account of how Hatoyama was dragged down from power by the Obama administration. Or does it?

Voice - I think you have the Hatoyama period wrong in the sense that he had no idea how to implement his promises and desires to separate Japan and the U.S. That was the main factor with his term as PM. There is no problem with saying "no" but you damn well sure better have an answer other than "no". Hatoyama had zero answers.

Matthew SimonMar. 12, 2012 - 02:00PM JST

Was he the PM whose wife said she ate the sun everyday for nourishment?

Yup, and she took a UFO to Venus and told the media how lush, green and beautiful it was. Space probes are usually crushed and melted after half an hour on the surface, so Ms. Hatoyama definitely has a different set of aesthetics!

Hatoyama was so unfit for office it was simply astounding, and it was ZERO surprise when he left office before his term was even a year into its start. What was NOT surprising was that he immediately ran away and started sniping from the background, largely hiding behind Ozawa. Also what was not surprising was that he did not live up to his promise (one of many) that he would give up his DIET seat to take responsibility for his poor leadership and decisions.

What does Obama can do with the 'rise of communist China' in asia? When his troops were defeating in afghanistan and sending endless 'apologies' to people who were killing his troops,anyone honestlty believes a C in C like him has a 'position' in 21st century history!

By the way I wont be surprised with Mr Obama's:" where Obama famously barged into a room where Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was meeting leaders of other key developing nations." He was the one lacking basic manner besides a fury of claimung 'America shall never be No.2!' He was just 'pointless,helpless and brainless!

“It appears the United States will have to deal with a succession of weak, short-term cabinets there,” he wrote.

Wasnt that was why Japan being the most flavorable ally of america?

The obama admin have alienated France, Germany, the UK and Canada.

Unlike his predecessor? Pull the other one.

Hatoyama was an amateur at security and foreign policy, but it was great to see powerful beaurocrats dragged out of the gyms and forced to justify their powers and discretionary budgets in public for the first time. It was 12 months where I really hoped there was a chance to shift the balance of power in Japan away from Kasumigaseki and into the parliament for the first time.

I thought Hatoyama was incompetent to lead and was right to stand down over the Okinawa issue, but it was disappointing to see Kan drop Ozawa's reform agenda and go back to vice-minister subservience like he did, and as Noda has carried on.

As much as Hatoyama was a failure, what followed has effectively been a return to LDP style rule. Frankly, given the reversals on election promises and DPJ begging LDP and Komeito for support, the next election is meaningless - all three parties now just represent the same thing. At least under Hatoyama there was hope for something different.

I don't think the Americans understood, or supported what the election of the DPJ represented. Shame.

"The irony that Vietnam, of all countries, should have understood the strategic foolishness of such a proposal while America's strongest ally in the region did not was not lost on anyone," Bader wrote.

Well, it's not an irony but a strategy. Vietnam which unlike Japan won the war with the U.S. knows when to have China or the U.S. on its side as occasion may demand. Japan is simply not allowed to have such discretion.

It's easy to criticize the hapless Hatoyama.

"voiceofokinawa" is in the groove on this one ...

Its only natural that Obama or his aides would criticize a staunch ally like Japan. The obama admin have alienated France, Germany, the UK and Canada. Japan probably wonders as well who these people are and why they seem so intent on cozying up to the likes of Russia and Venezuela while trashing traditional US allies.

Smith - I dislike both, but I'd take Hatoyama over Kan. Kan practically burned the DPJ manifesto page by page and handed government control back to the finance ministry.

Hatoyama at least tried to pry open the stalemated bilateral relations and give the Japanese people a ray of hope for true independence. So criticizing Hatoyama by a former Obama government hand means Japan must never try again to change the status quo of being a U.S. vassal. That's the reason why Kan and Noda retreated to the same old policy line as the LDP's vis-a-vis the U.S.