A prominent Japanese politician has raised hackles as Barack Obama visits Tokyo by claiming it's an 'open secret' that he and the first lady are headed for divorce, and that the president has been using Secret Service agents to cover for him as he pursues extramarital affairs.
Kazuyuki Hamada, who sits in the upper house of Japan's parliament, earned his PhD a half-mile from the White House at George Washington University, and emerged as a shrill commentator on America's economy and foreign policy.
In 2009 he also joined the ranks of the so-called 'birthers,' arguing in a book titled 'Who is Obama?' that the president likely wasn't born in the United States.
But it's his more recent writing that's capturing the attention of the international press this week.
Hamada complained April 5 on his official blog about Obama's decision to visit Tokyo without first lady Michelle Obama in tow. 'His approval numbers are dragging down near 30 per cent,' Hamada wrote, according to an English translation.
'The president has been criticized for having no visions or leadership to solve domestic and diplomatic problems, some even ridiculing him as the worst president of the postwar era.'
'The biggest reason – of many – for the collapse of his reputation is his failed relationship with his wife,' Hamada claimed
'It is an open secret that the pair are already negotiating their divorce, and that they are waiting for his term in office to be over, and then they'll separate.'
He had stiff words for the impact of the first lady's multimillion-dollar 'goodwill' trips to far-flung places on the taxpayers' dime.
The Japanese pol claimed that 'if you ask the president, he will tell you, "I can't show my face to the voters after how she's spent so much money".'
'On the other hand,' Hamada added, 'if you get his wife to talk, she'll tell you: "The president is a pathological philanderer. He uses the Secret Service for this, and has used them to hide evidence that he's a cheater".'
Some of Hamada's claims appear to closely mirror a January report from the National Enquirer.
The tabloid reported in January that the Obamas are sleeping in separate bedrooms and have determined that the president will return to Hawaii in January 2017, while Mrs. Obama and their daughters will remain in Washington, D.C.
Hamada's official parliamentary biography notes that after earning his Ph.D, he worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, and then for the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
CRS briefs, prepared for members of Congress, often sort out technical details or split economic hairs on issues vital to American national security, defense and economic survival. MailOnline was unable to identify any briefs that bear his name.
It's difficult to look at the nearly 50 books Hamada has published, though, without sensing an anti-American streak.
The 2009 'Who is Obama?' includes the claim that the president 'has done nothing for the American People,' according to a partial translation of the book's introduction obtained by MailOnline.
'This is the man who, during the [2008] campaign, took massive amounts of money from Wall Street,' he wrote, 'and has now proceeded to throw around the American people's tax dollars – a man with nothing more than a promise on his lips.'
Hamada's other works include a 2002 volume titled 'The Dark Corridor: An American underground conspiracy of the military-industrial complex.'
In 2006 he wrote 'The Next World Order: The Rise and Development of America.' The low-budget paperback's cover, reminiscent of campaign literature from the anti-Federal Reserve former GOP congressman Ron Paul, featured a smirking Obama and a gold coin.
Howard LaFranchi, a staff writer with the Christian Science Monitor, first hinted at Hamada's anti-Obama rant on Wednesday.
In most corners, he wrote, Mrs. Obama’s absence from Tokyo 'is a woeful sign of Japan’s retreat from the top tier of America’s allies.'
Many, LaFranchi noted, are speculating 'that Obama is suggesting his lack of connection with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by coming stag, or that Michelle is hinting at her disapproval of this or that Japanese policy or reality (perhaps whaling? or maybe the relative subjugation of Japanese women?) by staying home.'
But if the first lady tags along when President Obama visits China next year, Hamada and other prominent Japanese national figures will likely crank up the anti-Obama press mill again.
Keith Koffler, a veteran White House correspondent, noted on his White House Dossier blog that the first lady has the perfect political excuse for avoiding the long trip to Japan: a Democratic National Committee fundraiser on Thursday.
The last American first lady to stay home while her husband made a state visit to Japan was Betty Ford in November 1974. That trip, just months after President Richard Nixon's resignation, marked the first time a sitting U.S. president traveled there.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment, despite MailOnline calling it a 'softball' question.
Culled from DailyMail
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