Zip it Tzipi

Like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car, that's what Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni looked like Wednesday. Instead of continuing to run, to quickly cross the path she had chosen, she stood still and froze on the spot. Hesitant, frightened and unsure. The problem is that there is only one fate in store for such a hesitant rabbit. It is doomed to be run over.

And this is precisely what has happened to Livni. Even if the tire marks are not yet visible on her face – it has been blackened. This may have been the first time since her meteoric rise in politics that she has revealed such weakness.

There will be those who will maintain that her weakness stems from fear; from her inability to make a decision and see it through; from her indecisiveness of "yes" and "no," hot and cold, tea and coffee. Or in short: Our deputy prime minister just doesn't have the gall.

And we can be more specific: Livni, who undertook various moves following the Winograd report's publication that were supposed to have climaxed Wednesday with her resignation from the cabinet, has shown that it will take quite a while until she is ripe for the premiership.

An honest politician is indeed good news, but it is not enough to lead a country. Livni's call on Olmert to step down sounded like a whisper in the wind. As it wasn't accompanied by an announcement that she would quit if her recommendation wasn't heeded, her protest disappeared into thin air.

Even prior to the press conference she convened, it was clear that anything less than her own resignation would be a disgrace. You can't play the part of "Mrs. Clean" – an irregular politician who stands her ground while at the same time remains the foreign minister and deputy prime minister of a man whose leadership skills she doubts.

Cold feet

Livni's excuse for remaining in office is that she wants to make sure the conclusions of the Winograd report are implemented in full. Really. This is the same argument Olmert is using to justify himself remaining in office. It would be much more reasonable to assume that Livni got cold feet at the last moment, and that she understood a moment after her dramatic announcement that she would find herself thrown out of the ranks.

And if the rebellion within the Kadima ranks doesn't take off, as it currently appears, she is likely to find herself removed from the cabinet for a good few months. What's next? Time will tell. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow morning, let alone three months from now.

Her move, which was accompanied by the background voice of an acclaimed politician such as Avigdor Itzchaky, was reminiscent of Benjamin Netanyahu's miserable putsch attempt aimed at toppling Ariel Sharon's cabinet.

They counted on him to hand over the keys and discovered that years of political prowess worked in his favor: Olmert, just like Sharon before him, didn't lose his equilibrium. His decision not to fire her on the spot was a wise one. Had he done so, he would have cleared her of the damage she inflicted on herself and would have turned her into a martyr, the Jean D'Arc of the Second Lebanon War.

On the other hand, her decision to stay put despite her stance against Olmert, while continuing to serve as his deputy prime minister, is brandishing her with the tainted image Olmert would like - Tzipi the blabbermouth.