PC cafe

Premier’s Resignation Leaves Japan in Disarray - New York Times

Mr. Abe, deeply unpopular, had already been written off by Japan’s political establishment and media, his political future measured in months.

write someone off as
write someone [something] off (as something)//write off someone [something] (as something)

「～を（だめなものだと）見なす［する，考える］，～を見放す，（～と見なして）葬り去る［廃棄する，破棄する］」¶He may talk oddly, but don't write him off as a kook. He's a real genius.（彼は奇妙な話し方をするかもしれないが，彼を変人だと思うな。彼は本物の天才だぞ）¶He recovered after the doctors had written him off.（彼が回復したのは医者に見放されたあとだった） （E-DIC）

Mr. Abe, who had described himself as a “politician who fights,” apparently had no stomach for it.

not have the [have no/etc.] stomach for something [doing]
「（嫌で，危険すぎて）～に気乗りがしない，気が進まない，～したがらない，～する勇気がない」¶Sky diving can be a dangerous sport. Most people don't have the stomach for it.（スカイダイビングは危険を伴うスポーツだ。たいていの人はする勇気がない）¶I don't like New York. I have no stomach for going there again.（私はニューヨークが好きじゃない。もう一度行く気はしない）¶I used to like bullfighting, but I have little stomach for such a cruel sport anymore.（私は昔，闘牛が好きだった。でも，今ではもうあんな残酷なスポーツは見ようと思わない）（E-DIC）

The timing of the resignation was all the more puzzling because Mr. Abe had steadfastly refused to resign or to dissolve Parliament and call a general election after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in an upper house election over the summer.

steadfast
1 固定した, ぐらつかない (immovable); 変化に動じない (immutable).
･a steadfast gaze じっと見つめること, 凝視.
2 〈信念･決意･愛情など〉しっかりした, 不動の (firm) (⇒faithful SYN).
･steadfast faith 不動の信念.
･a steadfast man 意志の強固な[信念の強い]人, しっかりした人.

“The way he resigned was unprecedented,” said Jun Iio, a professor of government at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies here. “Unfortunately, even though Abe had some successes as prime minister, he will be remembered for the way he resigned. Other prime ministers resigned after putting up a good fight and made the reasons for their resignation very clear. But the way Abe resigned suggests he lacked the qualifications to be prime minister in the first place.”

キビシイな～。

Mr. Abe, who became prime minister last September, gained popularity by ,,championing the cause of a dozen Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and fanning, critics said, nationalist anger. As a lawmaker, he had long led efforts to revise school textbooks and present what critics said was a whitewashed version of Japan’s wartime history.

champion …の闘士を務める,擁護する,支持する:
whitewash (いい加減な手段で)…の汚名をすすごうと試みる; ごまかす, …の表面を飾る, 体裁を繕う.
The government tries to whitewash the country's racial problems. 政府は国内の人種問題を取り繕おうとしている.