Saturday, January 07, 2006
On His Shoulders
Let me apologize if I seem insensitive when I say I don't think the whole West Virginia miner situation warranted that much news coverage when the only man that is right now making any moves in Israel/Palestine is laying in a hospital bed helpless and politically impotent.
The cartoon in my post entitled "Well If You Step Back a Few Years..." is very telling when we talk about the political might of Ariel Sharon. HE's the man that gets credit for the Gaza pull-out. No thanks to his party. No thanks to the Palestinian leaders. This was Sharon moving forward. He did this and knew there could be political consequences. Well it turns out, there were consequences. They just happened to be overwhelmingly positive until now.
He moved forward on establishing a more sovereign Palestinian territory. Then he moved forward on his new party, Kadima, basically by himself. He declared his new party AND THEN started to build popular and political support. Many big name politicians jumped on board after Sharon had already announced his aspirations and the public had reacted positively.
Sharon carried the weight of the Peace Process on his back, so the thought of him not being there to follow through is a bit worrisome. There are two questions we need to ask: 1. Can Sharon's new party pick up where he left off and move forward with popular support? 2. If the public decides to reelect the Likud party, are we willing to sit back and watch another war break out in the Middle East?
Sharon was not without his problems, but he was the one taking initiative. I worry very much about the Likud Party and Netanyahu being put in the leadership position. I also worry about the sanity of Pat Robertson.
But at least this is some promising news of Kadima without Sharon:
The cartoon in my post entitled "Well If You Step Back a Few Years..." is very telling when we talk about the political might of Ariel Sharon. HE's the man that gets credit for the Gaza pull-out. No thanks to his party. No thanks to the Palestinian leaders. This was Sharon moving forward. He did this and knew there could be political consequences. Well it turns out, there were consequences. They just happened to be overwhelmingly positive until now.
He moved forward on establishing a more sovereign Palestinian territory. Then he moved forward on his new party, Kadima, basically by himself. He declared his new party AND THEN started to build popular and political support. Many big name politicians jumped on board after Sharon had already announced his aspirations and the public had reacted positively.
Sharon carried the weight of the Peace Process on his back, so the thought of him not being there to follow through is a bit worrisome. There are two questions we need to ask: 1. Can Sharon's new party pick up where he left off and move forward with popular support? 2. If the public decides to reelect the Likud party, are we willing to sit back and watch another war break out in the Middle East?
Sharon was not without his problems, but he was the one taking initiative. I worry very much about the Likud Party and Netanyahu being put in the leadership position. I also worry about the sanity of Pat Robertson.
But at least this is some promising news of Kadima without Sharon:
Were Vice Premier Shimon Peres to take over leadership of the party, Kadima would win 42 seats - exactly the number of seats it would have garnered four days ago, when Sharon was still healthy.
