If Rahm Emanuel becomes Obama's chief of staff, there will be an African American president with a aide who speaks Hebrew. Fifty years ago I entered Wesleyan under a Jewish quota of 10 percent. Forty years ago I traveled throughout the South and saw water fountains and park benches with signs for Whites Only.
It is touching to see black Americans crying at the news of Obama's victory. Conditions do not auger well for early or extensive improvements in their lives. Pride is important. Being the Chosen People carried the Jews through a great deal of unpleasantness.
The Israeli election does not promise anything so dramatic. Neither is there a specter like Sarah Palin hanging over the outcome. We are hearing that she thought Africa was a country, rather than a continent. True, or parody?
Here the heads of major parties are well known. All of them have been at the pinnacle of national politics for a decade or more, and have shown how they can manage a major ministry or even the office of prime minister. They all know that they will have to bend and scrape to put together a coalition, with parties they might not want to include.
Each party has a mechanism--either a primary restricted to dues-paying members or a committee of party elites--for ranking its candidates. Voters select among the parties, and the percentage each receives determines how far down the list its candidates become members of the parliament.
The parties are courting "stars" who have made a name for themselves in the military, business, media, or the universities. Some feel themselves important enough to demand a high place on a party's list, or even to be assured a role as minister if the party joins the coalition. Occasionally, one will demand a position as a "senior minister," i.e., something thought to be worthy of his or her expertise. Some stars are modest enough to reject the idea of assurance, and are willing to join the primary contest.
The Labor Party central committee decided to save most of the seats likely to be won for individuals currently in the Knesset. Commentators are calling this a symptom of organizational decay.
Not all the stars willing to enter politics "for the good of the nation" will obtain a high place on a party list. Some of those promised ministerial appointments will not get them, or will not get an appointment as important as they thought they were promised. Coalition negotiations are tough, and party leaders seldom end up with anything like their initial demands. After the last Knesset election, one senior academic resigned from the Knesset in a huff after not getting the position he thought he deserved. Another grumbled, but served as a back bencher until becoming head of a Knesset committee near the end of the session.
Condoleezza Rice came to the country again to keep the Israelis and the Palestinians working for peace. She now concedes that they cannot complete their task in 2008 as she wanted, but she sees real progress and hopes that they will maintain the momentum through transitions in both Israel and the United States. Tzipi Livni has signed on to Ms Race's vision, but she has shown herself to be more reserved in her promises than Ehud Olmert. Benyamin Netanyahu has positioned himself as more cautious than Ms Livni.
Mahmoud Abbas is saying that he and Olmert have made real progress. That is a change in tone from his usual dismal messages with respect to the achievement of Palestinian rights. At this point it is impossible to know if he is serious, or expressing a platitude for the new president (keep their feet to the fire until they give us what we want).
Whoever President Obama sends to the Middle East will have a difficult task, whether he or she speaks Hebrew or something else.
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Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus)
Department of Political Science
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Home tel: 972-2-532-2725
Cell phone: 054-683-5325
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msira@mscc.huji.ac.il