Sharon Update: He Is Finished
As everyone knows, Ariel Sharon had another stroke yesterday. When we finally went to bed last night, he was still in surgery and the doctors were having a difficult time trying to stem the flow of blood. This morning we have the following from Mere Rhetoric.
http://www.mererhetoric.com/
First what we do know: First, Ariel Sharon's political career is over. He will not recover fully from this operation, but even a miracle will not allow him to either run for or to execute the duties of an office. Channel 10: "for the next few hours, every Israeli is going to be a doctor. And they're listening to what the real doctors are saying, and that's that Sharon won't be Prime Minster at least for the next few months." Second, there will be elections in Israel on March 28th because last month President Katsav acceded to Prime Minister Sharon's request to dissolve the Knesset. But that's exactly all of we what we know right now.
Before this tragedy, Israel was already in a kind of double political limbo: not only had the Prime Minister just dissolved the government - so the executive and legislative branches were lame ducks - but the lame-duck government itself was controlled by a party that had never been elected. Sharon, having left the Likud party to form Kadima, managed to convince an incredible number of Israeli personalities and ministers to abandon life-long commitments and come with him. Several of the most powerful officials in the Israeli government right now have thus never been elected as members of the party that they're ostensibly members of. But Sharon was on track to guiding Israel through the government-less, party-less limbo. His own personal popularity was going to bring enough votes to ensure that the same people - but not the same party - remained control. After his series of chaotic electoral tricks, Israel was supposed to have a soft landing where everything fell into place without any dramatic changes. But without Sharon holding everything together, Kadima is a party with no base and no infrastructure - and now with nothing to make voters ignore that.
The legal situation is unprecedented. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only takes control of a country that has never voted for him, but he takes over as the representative of a party that he doesn't lead. Kadima has never had a public discussion over who should lead it, let alone a formal primary (Sharon was personally deciding the order of Kadima's election list, and Kadima was supposed to grow party roots during the next government). Adding Sharon's responsibilities to his own previously substantial ones, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - a former Likud member who left with Sharon - now holds more cabinet portfolios than the rest of the cabinet combined. Channel 10 asked a legal expert for his opinion about what Israel's bodies of laws says about this situation. Answer: "in my opinion, this is totally beyond the scope of anything the law has to say." Awesome! In the meantime, politicians across the spectrum are declaring that they're praying for Sharon's fully recovery. And as very-lefty Yossi Beilin said on TV this morning, prayers "aren't nothing". Netanyahu and Peretz mean those prayers. Everyone is very, very nervous about the chaos and uncertainty that Israel is about to face. The Likud has all but officially canceled their plans to resign from the government on Sunday (where they are still technically ministers), while Peretz - who had already taken Labor out of the government - has placed himself "at the disposal" of Olmert.
This could not have happened at a worse time. With their new elections right around the corner, Olmert is needed to hold things together, especially in the face of the anmials in Gaza who were celebrating Sharon's stroke and grave condition. Olmert had better be prepared to deal with them should they decide to start more trouble than what they have been lately.
The Bunny ;)
As everyone knows, Ariel Sharon had another stroke yesterday. When we finally went to bed last night, he was still in surgery and the doctors were having a difficult time trying to stem the flow of blood. This morning we have the following from Mere Rhetoric.
http://www.mererhetoric.com/
First what we do know: First, Ariel Sharon's political career is over. He will not recover fully from this operation, but even a miracle will not allow him to either run for or to execute the duties of an office. Channel 10: "for the next few hours, every Israeli is going to be a doctor. And they're listening to what the real doctors are saying, and that's that Sharon won't be Prime Minster at least for the next few months." Second, there will be elections in Israel on March 28th because last month President Katsav acceded to Prime Minister Sharon's request to dissolve the Knesset. But that's exactly all of we what we know right now.
Before this tragedy, Israel was already in a kind of double political limbo: not only had the Prime Minister just dissolved the government - so the executive and legislative branches were lame ducks - but the lame-duck government itself was controlled by a party that had never been elected. Sharon, having left the Likud party to form Kadima, managed to convince an incredible number of Israeli personalities and ministers to abandon life-long commitments and come with him. Several of the most powerful officials in the Israeli government right now have thus never been elected as members of the party that they're ostensibly members of. But Sharon was on track to guiding Israel through the government-less, party-less limbo. His own personal popularity was going to bring enough votes to ensure that the same people - but not the same party - remained control. After his series of chaotic electoral tricks, Israel was supposed to have a soft landing where everything fell into place without any dramatic changes. But without Sharon holding everything together, Kadima is a party with no base and no infrastructure - and now with nothing to make voters ignore that.
The legal situation is unprecedented. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only takes control of a country that has never voted for him, but he takes over as the representative of a party that he doesn't lead. Kadima has never had a public discussion over who should lead it, let alone a formal primary (Sharon was personally deciding the order of Kadima's election list, and Kadima was supposed to grow party roots during the next government). Adding Sharon's responsibilities to his own previously substantial ones, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - a former Likud member who left with Sharon - now holds more cabinet portfolios than the rest of the cabinet combined. Channel 10 asked a legal expert for his opinion about what Israel's bodies of laws says about this situation. Answer: "in my opinion, this is totally beyond the scope of anything the law has to say." Awesome! In the meantime, politicians across the spectrum are declaring that they're praying for Sharon's fully recovery. And as very-lefty Yossi Beilin said on TV this morning, prayers "aren't nothing". Netanyahu and Peretz mean those prayers. Everyone is very, very nervous about the chaos and uncertainty that Israel is about to face. The Likud has all but officially canceled their plans to resign from the government on Sunday (where they are still technically ministers), while Peretz - who had already taken Labor out of the government - has placed himself "at the disposal" of Olmert.
This could not have happened at a worse time. With their new elections right around the corner, Olmert is needed to hold things together, especially in the face of the anmials in Gaza who were celebrating Sharon's stroke and grave condition. Olmert had better be prepared to deal with them should they decide to start more trouble than what they have been lately.
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 10:02 AM
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