plumb the depth

民進党の岡田克也代表は３０日、９月の党代表選に立候補せず、同月末の任期限りでの退任を表明しました。

Okada won’t run for re-election as head of main opposition party

Following the recent Upper House election that saw the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and other parties supporting constitutional amendment gain strength, Katsuya Okada, president of the main opposition Democratic Party, decided it was time for a change of leadership.

Okada said on July 30 that he will not run in the Democratic Party presidential race in September when his term expires.

“The party should be steered by a new leader now that it has become ready to stage a counterattack after plumbing the depths,” Okada told a news conference at party headquarters, referring to the results of the Upper House election.

The Democratic Party garnered 32 seats in the July 10 election, up from 17 in the previous poll held in 2013. It failed, however, to fulfill its pledge to stop the LDP, its junior coalition partner, Komeito, and other parties in favor of constitutional amendment from gaining the two-thirds majority needed to initiate the process.

The race to elect the new leader of the Democratic Party will be held Sept. 15, with campaigning starting Sept. 2.

Okada, 63, assumed the presidency of what was then the Democratic Party of Japan in January 2015. He became the first president of the Democratic Party when it was formed in March. His term as party president expires at the end of September.

Although Okada said how to run the party will be up to its new president, he expressed hopes that it will continue to work together with the three other opposition parties, as it did in the recent Upper House vote.

“I am hoping that the new leader will stick to the direction that I laid out,” Okada said.

In the Upper House election, the opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, fielded only one candidate in each of the 32 single-seat constituencies to improve their chances of defeating contenders backed by the ruling coalition of the LDP and Komeito.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201607310022.html

今回取り上げる表現は、“plumb the depth”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、「最悪の事態に達する」という意味が載っていました。

Macmillan Dictionary.comでは、1.“to have or feel a negative quality or emotion very strongly” 2. “to be a very extreme example of something bad”と定義されていました。物事が最悪、最低の状態であることを表現する際に用いられるようです。

会見で岡田代表は「どん底から反転攻勢できる一歩を踏み出せた。」という言葉を述べられていましたが、今回取り上げた“plumb the depth”で「どん底」を表現しているのだと思います。(Blue Sky)