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Last update - 09:48 05/09/2008
Now they are Obama
By Doron Rosenblum
Tags: Israel, Obama

There were periods when politicians in this country wanted to be the Israeli Jimmy Carter or the Israeli Bill Clinton: new, plain, promising and charismatic. Years later - for a while, until his initial glamour faded - they tried to be the Israeli Tony Blair: energetic, young social democrats. Nowadays the last word in political pretension is the attempt to be the Israeli Barack Obama: "social," authentic and inspiring.

Even before it becomes clear just how "Obamish" Obama himself is, image consultants have implied in our part of the world that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is Obamish, just because she is a woman (and "Woman is the Nigger of the World," as John Lennon sang). Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz is Obamish - as his consultant Arthur Finkelstein will say - because he is suddenly pretending to be "social."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu are Obamish, just because they used to be young and promising. Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit is Obamish because he is from the periphery. And Public Security Minister Avi Dichter is Obamish because he is sticking to the slogan "Yes I can."
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Soon - with the change in fashions - maybe we will hear that our politicians are the Israeli Sarah Palins (because Barak, Netanyahu, Dichter and Mofaz know how to shoot a rifle, Livni is a woman, and Sheetrit can hypnotize animals). There is only one problem with these analogies: In Israel it is always a story of the same party hacks and military men, or their doppelgangers lacking imagination and vision.

These leaders, even if their candidacy is fresh, do not have any daring or ability to propose a message or innovations, and if they do have some sort of agenda, it's mostly obsolete and musty merchandise last relevant in the middle or beginning of the last century.

Let's put it this way: It doesn't exactly smell like teen political spirit when the agenda of the leading candidate in the opinion polls, Netanyahu, consists of ancient Revisionism and promises of "putting into the history books" not only Ze'ev Jabotinsky's political writings but also the "don't give an inch" heritage of former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir.

(This week Netanyahu defined this as "a fundamental plank in the heritage on which we must educate our children.") Perhaps this is akin to "the bedrock of our existence" found under the Western Wall Tunnel.

The other candidates, who are trying to be considered "centrists," are resting on two other fundamental planks which for some reason are considered consensual if not winning cards: "security experience" and "the unity of Jerusalem." Generations of leaders in Israel have learned to strum these withered strings, and now they are playing these tunes again without noticing how much these sounds have lost their effectiveness and attractiveness.

The halo of the "security background" after the Second Lebanon War and the disengagement isn't what it used to be, and as for united Jerusalem - now even Jerusalem goody-goodies know how hollow this declared "unity" is, as is the alleged urban vibrancy of this half-ultra-Orthodox, half-Arab city.

But different agendas or messages simply aren't much in stock these days - not a single candidate is prepared to let it cross his lips. (Except perhaps Barak, who here and there dares to say true things having to do with Jerusalem and things in general. But look how low the ratings are in this country for this sort of reality).

Nevertheless, everyone wants to be an Obama, only without the message, hope and innovation. However is it exclusively their fault - or the fault of our side in the conflict - that there is no longer much demand for innovation and hope in our region? Our leaders are selling us old junk, but the region we live in isn't exactly the Galeries Lafayette, either.

This week three former prime ministers gathered to pay their respects to Shamir on the publication of a book about him and his legacy.

Each of them praised - through his own personal filter - the determination, refusal to compromise and "stony," "rocklike" staunchness of the man who thwarted any movement toward peace and who coined the phrase "the Arabs are the same Arabs and the sea is the same sea."

They may have admitted in this that in Israel even if someone starts out as Obama, we end up with the same Shamir and the same stones and rocks. And this in the rare case of a happy end.
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  1.   Shamir and Begin 10:25  |  Connie 05/09/08
  2.   Connie, thanks for the smile! 10:49  |  Natallie Durson 05/09/08
  3.   When God created Israel, he decided to spend a week...... 10:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/09/08
  4.   OBAMA`S FOR THE PRESIDENT 11:04  |  indrajaya 05/09/08
  5.   Obamish, Palinesque... 11:44  |  Rob 05/09/08
  6.   Connie 11:45  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 05/09/08
  7.   "strum these withered strings" 12:01  |  Rowan Berkeley 05/09/08
  8.   Just be yourself please! 13:47  |  Edith 05/09/08
  9.   Now they are Obama... 15:28  |  Walter 05/09/08
  10.   #4 indra/ Thank G- d you can`t vote here. 16:04  |  John Allen 05/09/08
  11.   For cheap: Livni of the week 16:06  |  Ilan 05/09/08
  12.   Easy to impress the masses! 16:21  |  THK 05/09/08
  13.   Swiss(Dino) 16:22  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 05/09/08
  14.   They want to be ANYTHING as long as it ain`t Jewish 16:27  |  Harvey 05/09/08
  15.   the article over simplifies things 16:32  |  zionist forever 05/09/08
  16.   Doron, stick with Obama 16:49  |  Herbert Kaine 05/09/08
  17.   Dino you are the best 17:08  |  Dr D 05/09/08
  18.   Israeli Leaders Should Be More Like Obama 17:15  |  Yosemite 05/09/08
  19.   Funny stuff 17:49  |  Adam 05/09/08
  20.   Herbert - Authentic? 17:56  |  Adam 05/09/08
  21.   The Teacher 20:42  |  Connie 05/09/08
  22.   Natalie is smiling (part 1) 20:54  |  Connie 05/09/08
  23.   Figures - Israeli Leaders are Nitwits 20:58  |  Tod Zuckerman 05/09/08
  24.   Natalie smile (part 2) 21:01  |  Connie 05/09/08
  25.   Offensive quotes 21:30  |  allang 05/09/08
  26.   What they really want 21:38  |  Gee 05/09/08
  27.   McCain, Giuliani and C. Powell are Better 22:33  |  Dave Levy 05/09/08
  28.   # 3 Swiss (Dino) 2nt atmt. 23:14  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 05/09/08
  29.   they want 23:50  |  Shmuelshachor 05/09/08
  30.   Connie--You are right!! 23:51  |  Donald A. Rosenberg 05/09/08
  31.   #2 Durson...no, unless you haven`t being paying 23:54  |  Lynn 05/09/08
  32.   Connie 01:32  |  Akiva P 06/09/08
  33.   Hello Connie-rewriting history? 03:01  |  Lew Finegold 06/09/08
  34.   More tales from Connie #24 03:11  |  Lew Finegold 06/09/08
  35.   AKIVA 05:01  |  Connie 06/09/08
  36.   Lew Fingold 05:15  |  Connie 06/09/08
  37.   easy to be Obama in the United States 06:06  |  Janet 06/09/08
  38.   Connie,"dealing with Ahmadinjad"... 07:27  |  Akiva P 06/09/08
  39.   # 12, THK 08:22  |  indrajaya 06/09/08
  40.   Connie 08:35  |  Akiva P 06/09/08
  41.   Dr.. D and his fertile desert 09:14  |  Guy From NYC 06/09/08
  42.   Lew Finegold 09:17  |  Connie 06/09/08
  43.   # 2 excretions 10:09  |  MaDISON 06/09/08
  44.   # 43 Ma Dison 11:19  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 06/09/08
  45.   Connie the whitewasher 15:17  |  Lew Finegold 06/09/08
  46.   Palin was a strong Buchanan supporter! 15:23  |  Jon 06/09/08
  47.   # 17 Dr D, don`t worry, I`m very well aware of the fact..... 16:04  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/09/08
  48.   # 28 THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 16:11  |  Swiss (Dino) 06/09/08
  49.   Jon #46 This fabrication was exploded several days ago 17:51  |  Joe Camel 06/09/08
  50.   Dino ( Swiss) 3 Nice Post. 18:57  |  Stephen 06/09/08
  51.   O`bama vs Palin 20:31  |  JL Williams 06/09/08
  52.   indrajaya, please stop voicing support for Obama 20:41  |  utagawa 06/09/08
  53.   Finegold 20:57  |  Connie 06/09/08
  54.   Now they are Obama 21:38  |  Rose R. 06/09/08
  55.   Connie you care about British casualities 22:20  |  Labhras 06/09/08
  56.   Reach for Quality Obama `08 22:30  |  Bronxite10 06/09/08
  57.   Re #54 23:19  |  Thundercloud65 06/09/08
  58.   Doron Clueless as Usual 00:26  |  Baruch Gold 07/09/08
  59.   Ehud Barak ...Obama. Meir Shetreet..? 00:56  |  Stephen 07/09/08
  60.   # 50 Stephen, please read my # 47 to Dr D..... 01:02  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/09/08
  61.   # 28 Swiss (Dino) 09:19  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 07/09/08
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