blame game

Illustrated by Kazuhiro Kawakita

　blameは「非難する」「責める」という動詞で、名詞としても使う。gameは「ゲーム」。blame gameは「非難合戦」「非難の応酬」のこと。カタカナ読みは「ブレイム・ゲイム」。gameだから、その前にplayを付けてplay the blame gameとすると、「責任のなすり合いをする」。
　ロイター通信（2008年9月18日付）は、“Wall St. meltdown triggers blame game in Washington”（ウォール街の〝暴落〟が、ワシントンで非難合戦の引き金に）と報じた。“This is a wholly owned problem in terms of its creation by the failed Bush policy, their anything-goes approach to our economy.”（これは、それを創り出したという意味では、すべてブッシュ政策の失敗によるもので、経済に対する〝何でもあり〟のやり方の結果だ）と、民主党のペロシ米議会下院議長はブッシュ政権を非難。金融市場の大混乱の原因は、共和党政権が証券・銀行業務の〝垣根〟を撤廃したうえに、金融商品を無制限に認可するなど、過剰な規制緩和を進めたためだと批判、民主党には責任はない、と強調した。
　連邦準備制度理事会（FRB）は、混乱を収束させるために、経営難に陥った保険最大手のアメリカン・インターナショナル・グループ（AIG）に約850億㌦の融資を決定したが、これに対しては民主・共和両党から非難が集中した。共和党大統領候補のマケイン上院議員は、混乱の責任は証券取引委員会（SEC）のコックス委員長にあると名指しして、“I would fire him.”（私ならば彼を首にする）と言い放った。
　コラムニストのウイリアム・サファイア氏によると、blame gameの言葉を最初に広めたのはレーガン大統領で、1982年10月14日にテレビ演説で使用。“The pounding economic hangover America is suffering from didn’t come about overnight, and there’s no single, instant cure. In recent weeks, a lot of people have been playing what I call the blame game.”（アメリカが陥っているガンガンする経済の二日酔いは、一夜にして生まれたものではなく、一回ですぐになおる治療法はない。ここ数週間、多くの人が、私が呼ぶところの〝非難合戦〟を繰り広げている）と述べた。
　blame gameの本質は、「悪いのは、こいつ」とpoint the finger at（指差す）ことで、結局はlooking for scapegoats（スケープゴート探し）。 だから、finger pointingとも言える。
　こうした風潮に対して、理性に立ち戻れ、との呼びかけは強い。共和党のボンド上院議員（ミズーリ州）は、“This is not the time to point fingers.　The American people want solutions. We have to instill confidence in the public.”（責任をなすりあっている時ではない。アメリカ国民は解決策を求めている。大衆に信頼を植え付けねばならないのだ）。The Sankei Shimbun(October 5 2008)

Cain: 'Stop the blame game' By: Mackenzie Weinger January 24, 2012 11:51 PM EST

Herman Cain called for President Barack Obama to “stop the blame game” and said Washington needs “common-sense solutions” to fix the economy in his response to the State of the Union address Tuesday night. The former GOP presidential contender and pizza executive rejected Obama’s “well-scripted rhetoric” in the second Tea Party Express speech delivered following the State of the Union. The speech was streamed live on the tea-party group’s website and and offered a different take than the official rebuttal delivered by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. “With all due respect to the president, some of us are not stupid,” Cain said. “The state of the union is not good. We want common-sense solutions. That’s how we do it outside of Washington, and we happen to believe we need more common-sense solutions inside of Washington.” Cain criticized the president’s address as “a hodgepodge of little ideas.” The time has come, Cain said, for a revolution at the ballot box. Cain also assumed the mantle of the tea-party movement as he seeks to build a movement for his ideas outside of electoral politics. He has not endorsed a specific candidate in the race, fearing that would alienate supporters, instead backing “the people.” “We the people are coming,” he said. “That’s the tea party message to Washington, the president and his administration. We the people are coming and we know that we are up against Goliath. But this is why the tea-party movement will become not a single David trying to slay Goliath — we will be an army of Davids. The tea party movement is alive and well. And contrary to what media elites and the establishment want you to believe, it’s going to continue to define the political landscape.” In the speech, the former businessman — who for a time led the Republican pack before quitting the race after allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity — emphasized the need for a balanced budget, a strong military and a fairer and simpler tax code. He also stressed energy independence. “Made in America is possible,” he said. Cain also hit Obama for failing to address the national debt, which he dubbed a “national disgrace,” and called America’s economic growth in the last three years “anemic.” Obama’s health-care law must be repealed “because it was forced down our throats to begin with,” Cain said. “We did not hear the real facts about our state of the union,” he said. “Facts don’t lie.” Cain pointedly told Obama to “stop the class warfare” and asked him to “discourage your surrogates from making racial innuendoes.” “Mr. President, most of all, stop the blame game,” he said. Cain took several questions at the end of his address, focusing on the 2012 campaign and Stephen Colbert’s endorsement of his candidacy during the comedian’s mock presidential bid in South Carolina. Cain said Newt Gingrich has some “ifs” he needs to work out as a presidential candidate, such as some things in his congressional record, but that both Mitt Romney and Gingrich are “outstanding candidates.” Cain added that he plans to work more with Colbert in the future to encourage the youth vote. But “the first revolution, you guessed it, is going to be the 9-9-9- revolution,” Cain said as he left the stage, referring the tax plan that former a centerpiece of his campaign.

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