YES THEY CAN? - AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  In another story that's slipped in under the August radar, Japan has voted, and change is coming.  From The New York Times:

TOKYO — For only the second time in postwar history, Japanese voters appeared ready to cast out the long-governing Liberal Democratic Party in elections on Sunday, handing an apparent landslide victory to an untested opposition that must tackle severe economic problems and point Japan in a new direction.

In early counting on Sunday night, voters were flocking to the main opposition Democratic Party, a broad coalition of former socialists and ruling party defectors who promised to ease Japan’s growing social inequalities and reduce its traditional dependency on Washington.

COMMENT:  Same old, same old.  These old socialists come into power promising everything, and then they realize they have to govern.  As far as dependency on Washington goes, it's hard to see how a depression-wracked Japan can reduce that.  After all, what can North Korea do for them?

The White House will be pleased, as another untested group of amateurs is coming to power.  Misery loves company.

August 30, 2009