Donna
12-11-02, 20:32
Everybody loves Arik
By Yoel Marcus (Haaretz)
Were there an Israeli version of the TV series "Everybody Loves Raymond," I would call it "Everybody Loves Arik." Not because it would be funnier but because it would be weirder.
During Sharon's 20 months in office, the country has skidded downhill in every possible sphere: The economy is six-feet under. More Israelis have been killed in Mr. Security's day than under any other prime minister. The man has never come up with a peace initiative. We've been turned into untouchables in the eyes of just about the whole world.
And despite it all, everybody still loves Arik.
According to all the polls and all the data, and that includes gut feelings, Sharon will clobber Bibi and Labor combined, and climb back into the prime minister's seat. We could add another line to an old refrain: Those who didn't want Sharon as prime minister once will get him as prime minister twice.
Most of the public doesn't seem to connect the bungles and the terrible plight of this country with Sharon. It's as if he has nothing to do with any of it, as if none of the screw-ups were his fault. The terror, the intifada, the lack of a partner for dialogue - all of it simply fell on him out of the blue.
If you look closer, the opinion polls do show that people are aware of Sharon's failings. He gets bad marks on the economy and personal safety. But the bottom line never fails to surprise. People are satisfied with him and want him to continue. In another country, this would never happen. But we are not another country. Here, everyone loves Arik, no matter how much he fails.
The Israeli voting public is not naturally forgiving. In the past, it has proven that it knows how to punish leaders who botch things up: Ben-Gurion, Golda, Rabin in his first term, Shamir, Peres, and, of course, Barak and Bibi. But Sharon, in his older and wiser days, is No. 1 in the Teflon parade. He's learned what it takes to keep the public happy.
In the days when leadership hit rock bottom, at a time of uncertainty and disappointment with the two comets, Barak and Bibi, Sharon adopted the pose of an authoritative leader who knows what needs to be done and radiates cool self-confidence.
After taking office, he did three things that most Israelis liked: He lay the blame for the lack of personal safety on the Palestinians, beat them to a pulp, and most importantly, kept up calm, friendly relations with the U.S. administration.
Sharon is not a show-off like his two predecessors in the sense that he thinks he's it. He delegates authority and gets on pretty well with those around him. When the director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Avi Gil, resigned, Sharon sent his son Omri and others to see if there was anything he could do to help. He is not big on public appearances, and the media treats him nicely. Interviewers don't badger him the way they badgered his predecessors, and no one has said outright that the emperor has no clothes. They're all asleep on the watch.
Sharon is an excellent tactician with an eye for people's weaknesses. When Bibi announced his return to politics two years ago, Sharon lured Barak into forgetting about the general elections and concentrating on the race for prime minister. "Bibi gets tense and panicky. He'll chicken out if it means competing one-on-one. That will leave the two of us, and you know how easily you can beat me." Bibi did chicken out, and Sharon thrashed Barak at the polls.
More recently, it wasn't Fuad who put an end to the unity government but Arik, who wasn't keen on clashing with the settlers or giving Bibi time to organize. He preferred to get rid of this affliction and spend 90 days winning four more years in office. He "kidnapped" Mofaz from Bibi, but then forgot to tell him he couldn't run for Knesset and might be defense minister for a total of three months. He booby-trapped Bibi by making him foreign minister, which means Bibi can't dish out dirt on his prime minister/opponent without being punished by the voters.
The elections are scheduled, not by chance, for the eve of the American attack on Iraq, which will be followed by an aggressive campaign to end the conflict in this region. The Likud will win by default, as confused voters grope blindly in the leadership void. And Sharon, as father of the nation, will establish another emergency-unity government so that the people of Israel can fight to the last drop of blood in the second greatest operation of his career: Operation "Peace in the Territories."
By Yoel Marcus (Haaretz)
Were there an Israeli version of the TV series "Everybody Loves Raymond," I would call it "Everybody Loves Arik." Not because it would be funnier but because it would be weirder.
During Sharon's 20 months in office, the country has skidded downhill in every possible sphere: The economy is six-feet under. More Israelis have been killed in Mr. Security's day than under any other prime minister. The man has never come up with a peace initiative. We've been turned into untouchables in the eyes of just about the whole world.
And despite it all, everybody still loves Arik.
According to all the polls and all the data, and that includes gut feelings, Sharon will clobber Bibi and Labor combined, and climb back into the prime minister's seat. We could add another line to an old refrain: Those who didn't want Sharon as prime minister once will get him as prime minister twice.
Most of the public doesn't seem to connect the bungles and the terrible plight of this country with Sharon. It's as if he has nothing to do with any of it, as if none of the screw-ups were his fault. The terror, the intifada, the lack of a partner for dialogue - all of it simply fell on him out of the blue.
If you look closer, the opinion polls do show that people are aware of Sharon's failings. He gets bad marks on the economy and personal safety. But the bottom line never fails to surprise. People are satisfied with him and want him to continue. In another country, this would never happen. But we are not another country. Here, everyone loves Arik, no matter how much he fails.
The Israeli voting public is not naturally forgiving. In the past, it has proven that it knows how to punish leaders who botch things up: Ben-Gurion, Golda, Rabin in his first term, Shamir, Peres, and, of course, Barak and Bibi. But Sharon, in his older and wiser days, is No. 1 in the Teflon parade. He's learned what it takes to keep the public happy.
In the days when leadership hit rock bottom, at a time of uncertainty and disappointment with the two comets, Barak and Bibi, Sharon adopted the pose of an authoritative leader who knows what needs to be done and radiates cool self-confidence.
After taking office, he did three things that most Israelis liked: He lay the blame for the lack of personal safety on the Palestinians, beat them to a pulp, and most importantly, kept up calm, friendly relations with the U.S. administration.
Sharon is not a show-off like his two predecessors in the sense that he thinks he's it. He delegates authority and gets on pretty well with those around him. When the director-general of the Foreign Ministry, Avi Gil, resigned, Sharon sent his son Omri and others to see if there was anything he could do to help. He is not big on public appearances, and the media treats him nicely. Interviewers don't badger him the way they badgered his predecessors, and no one has said outright that the emperor has no clothes. They're all asleep on the watch.
Sharon is an excellent tactician with an eye for people's weaknesses. When Bibi announced his return to politics two years ago, Sharon lured Barak into forgetting about the general elections and concentrating on the race for prime minister. "Bibi gets tense and panicky. He'll chicken out if it means competing one-on-one. That will leave the two of us, and you know how easily you can beat me." Bibi did chicken out, and Sharon thrashed Barak at the polls.
More recently, it wasn't Fuad who put an end to the unity government but Arik, who wasn't keen on clashing with the settlers or giving Bibi time to organize. He preferred to get rid of this affliction and spend 90 days winning four more years in office. He "kidnapped" Mofaz from Bibi, but then forgot to tell him he couldn't run for Knesset and might be defense minister for a total of three months. He booby-trapped Bibi by making him foreign minister, which means Bibi can't dish out dirt on his prime minister/opponent without being punished by the voters.
The elections are scheduled, not by chance, for the eve of the American attack on Iraq, which will be followed by an aggressive campaign to end the conflict in this region. The Likud will win by default, as confused voters grope blindly in the leadership void. And Sharon, as father of the nation, will establish another emergency-unity government so that the people of Israel can fight to the last drop of blood in the second greatest operation of his career: Operation "Peace in the Territories."