Tick tock goes election countdown clock

Op-ed: Netanyahu can try to buy public, but public no longer buying what he's trying to sell

Reuters | Published: 02.13.11, 12:31

When Netanyahu is at his best he's Bibi – a skilled politician, the Muhammad Ali of the Likud and the Land of Israel, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. But Bibi has not been at his best for quite some time. In fact, he bears more of a resemblance to the Muhammad Ali of recent years, confused and dizzy, like a boxer who suffered hard blows to his head and can barely stand up.

There were times, in the last decade, when Israel's finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, led a clear, precise economic path. He handled harsh criticism for adversely affecting the lower classes with resilience. One may argue whether his policy addressed social justice, but he can't be stripped of the credit for the Israeli economy's growth during those years.

His miserable term as prime minister demonstrates how great the gap is between the skills required by a finance minister and the spine that a prime minister must have. Netanyahu is one of the most impressive individuals in the history of Israeli politics - smart and educated, erudite and knowledgeable. He can be an excellent finance minister, he can be a brilliant foreign minister. But being prime minister is beyond him. That's his tragedy. That's our tragedy.

No ideology and no strategy

In the last year, Netanyahu has diligently missed every opportunity for an historic breakthrough with the Palestinians and with the Syrians, allowed the far right to drag him by the nose, damaged Israel's essential ties with the US administration and tainted the dialogue with our dwindling friends around the world. On the diplomatic front, we can at least suspect that his actions, or failures, are rooted in his ideology, or those of his family.

On all economic matters, the cowardliness and wretchedness of his zig and his zag expose his weakness. This is neither ideology nor strategy – this is small, frightened politics. The man elected twice as prime minister has proven for the second time that he knows how to get elected, but not to lead. That's his shame. That's our tragedy.

Tick tock, tick tock goes the old clock. You don't have to strain your ears to hear the election countdown clock. Netanyahu can declare a gas tax cut, or that the cost of public transportation will be reduced, or that water prices will be lower. Whatever he wants. It's too late: He can try to buy the public, but the public is no longer buying what he's selling.

In the name of God, go

There is a moment that every government experiences, after which the rest of its tenure is “trash time.” Netanyahu's government crossed that threshold and is now stumbling towards an inevitable fall.

If Netanyahu has any decency left, he must shorten his failing government's death throes. In other words: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."