Omri Meniv
Ma'ariv (Opinion)
March 28, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.al-monitor.com/cms/contents/articles/politics/2012/04/kadima----where...


Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima, and congratulations on the impressive victory — notwithstanding your party bieng in its death-throes and irrelevant, a party that should never have risen at all, a party that must die as soon as possible and maybe will do so after the coming national elections.

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima, and congratulations on your victory over the hated enemy who embittered your life in recent months. No doubt you scored an impressive political achievement, the kind that strokes your ego. But I promise you that the euphoria will disappear very quickly, as quickly as your chances of becoming prime minister in the coming elections. The fata morgana in which you and the members of your party live is called “the largest party in the Knesset,” but the reality is that we really live in Bibi-land and this reality will not change—no matter how many political rabbits you try to pull out of your hat.

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima and Chairman of the Opposition. But even this title will probably belong to Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich in the coming elections. Your party is power hungry. It was established in order to rule. That’s its objective: cushy political jobs, power and domination. But the wings of history have determined otherwise: history has consigned the revered leader of the party (former PM Ariel Sharon) to political intensive care. There is no one left capable of leading this fractious flock to a safe haven. Due to the vacuum created at the party’s apex, you are privileged today to head Kadima. But due to this vacuum, you probably won’t lead the party anywhere.

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima. It's your party, except that this party doesn’t really exist and it is totally clear that it is not going anyplace, let alone forward. The “big bang” that it promised has long been revealed as a mirage. What is left is a collection of embittered politicians who deserted the ranks of their own political parties, and now remain orphaned and angry. What is left is a party without institutions, without roots, without a tradition or ideology — and public support that is losing ground, one opinion survey after another. What is left this morning is a party torn to pieces and at odds with itself, a party whose short-lived days of glory are long gone and who is facing a very gloomy future.

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima. You won the battle and that’s nice, but you probably face painful defeat in the upcoming war. You can’t allow yourself to express strong views so as not to offend anyone, but those who do so — such as Shelly Yacimovich and far-right Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman — will steal hundreds of thousands of votes from you. In the nineteenth Knesset, it is reasonable to assume that you will lead Kadima into the single digits. Afterward will come the splits and breakaways. Will it be under your leadership that Kadima will breathe its last?

Good morning to the elected leader of Kadima. They must have told you that in politics, anything can happen, and certainly the most stable thing about Prime Minister Netanyahu is his instability. Strange things can happen, and have happened here more than once, so who knows — perhaps you will end up in the prime minister's official residence in Rehavia, against all odds. The odds are against you, true, but at least you have faith. And you know what happens to those who believe: they are not afraid to be smashed into smithereens.




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