Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Saturday his intention to seek a second term as the leader of the Kadima party and run as its candidate for the position of prime minister in the next general elections.This guy just doesn’t get it and what’s even more unfortunate; he cannot even be shamed into leaving. Maybe I am just holding a grudge for almost being hoodwinked by him a few weeks ago. I started to read this speech and got excited thinking it was his resignation address to the nation but by the time I got a few lines in I realized my error. It was not his resignation speech but a resignation speech for the nation he reputedly leads. The Jerusalem Post carried an excerpt from it:
During an address to Kibbutz Movement leaders at Kibbutz Yifat, Olmert reiterated he would not step down despite criticism by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss of his handling of the Second Lebanon War last summer.
"A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it." Olmert was addressing the Caesarea Conference. The prime minister added that stepping up protection would be "just as [ineffective] as the demand to solve Sderot's Kassam problem by wiping Beit Hanun and other towns in Gaza off the face of the earth.
The prime minister appealed to the residents of the Gaza periphery: "In the short term we cannot supply you with all of the personal security that we would like to provide, because such protection would draw from expensive resources that are needed for other critical security needs."
Olmert also addressed the media, asking that they "not encourage, even mutely, demands of citizens that no normal government could accept." He added that "life in Israel entails a certain security risk, and anyone who chooses to live in the Jewish state is accepting this risk." And yet, "the risk in Israel is lower than the risk threatening Jews in other parts of the world."
"A country cannot protect itself ad infinitum, because there would be no end to it." Talk about self-defeating and fracking ridiculous. For the record, no one has been lobbying kassams in Toronto in the hopes of taking out a few members of the Jewish community but anyway – time for a laugh at Olmert’s expense. Check out this old ABC News interview on You Tube and watch Meir Kahane wipe the floor with the “younger” Ehud. Personally, Olmert scared me just looking at that hair and those glasses.
3 comments:
Yeah, we need to get rid of Olmert. Unfortunately, the machinery to do so rests in the Knesset, where too many members of the ruling coalition will lose thier seats (and privileges) if they force new elections. So they maintain the status quo.
The other option would be for the Kadima party to dump him, but again, that would probably force national elections, and that would remove Kadima as a political player.
And so you see the problem...
I have to say the inability to "throw out the bums" even in an elections due to the party lists situation is a major bummer.
I just can't help wondering how bad it has to get before the coalition starts bleeding....like I said Olmert cannot be shamed into leaving....
The coalition is starting to bleed. There's already muttering in Kadima about replacing Olmert with Livni, and various quarters are urging Labor and Israel Beiteinu to leave the government, and force elections. It's just a slow, slow process.
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