A gaffe Defense Minister Tomomi Inada made when she was stumping earlier this week for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election — asking for voters' support of the candidate "on behalf of the Defense Ministry, the Self-Defense Forces and the LDP, and as defense minister" — appears to symbolize the deplorable lack of weight in statements made by Cabinet ministers and lawmakers in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration.
Inada said she "retracts" her remark hours after uttering it on Tuesday, but did not seem to understand what was wrong with the statement. She reportedly acknowledged that her remark "could be misunderstood." But the statement she made can't be interpreted as anything other than a blatant attempt to use the SDF organization to rally for the LDP candidate, in violation of the political neutrality required of public servants. She would not have needed to withdraw the remark if she had not meant what she said.
Inada's account that she "wanted to express gratitude for the fact that the SDF's activities could not be sustained without the understanding of people" in the host areas does not seem to make any sense as an explanation for the remark. If she truly meant what she said, she is too careless to be a lawmaker and her qualifications as Cabinet minister in charge of the key defense portfolio are in doubt.