2006-01-05-Sharon-stroke |
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jewishsightseeing.com, January 5, 2006 |
By Ira Sharkansky
Ariel Sharon suffered a serious stroke last night. Physicians
speaking for the hospital report that his condition is critical and life
threatening. Other medical personnel say there is virtually no chance that
he can get out of this without significant damage. The alternative prognoses
of one brain surgeon are early death or living as a vegetable. Another says
that patients have emerged from similar episodes with the ability to
communicate.
The early morning news reported that heads of all parties
were either praying or hoping for Sharon's health. By the 9 AM news, with
him still in the operating room after more than eight hours, attention had
turned to the national election scheduled for March 28.
Yesterday, Sharon's new party, Kadima (Forward), was polling
at the level of 42 Knesset seats, while the closest running Labor and Likud
were each below 20. Sharon had announced the top lineup of his party
candidates: Ehud Olmert was in second place after Sharon himself, and the
group included former members of Labor, Likud, and the retired head of the
Shin Bet security service.
Now one question is, Will the impressive group of politicians
who affiliated with Kadima stay together without the cement of Sharon's
popularity? Another question concerns Labor and Likud. Their leaders had all
but conceded the election to Sharon. Now they are saying "no politics
on this sad day," but they are being advised to reposition themselves
to attract back some of those who drifted to Kadima, to bolster their lists
of candidates, and embark on serious campaigning.
Olmert has not been an outstanding performer in the polls,
but he has never been presented as heading the Kadima party.
Olmert's background as a crafty politician suggests he can
keep the list together. He lacks strong signs of the traditional ideology of
his former Likud affiliation. He was outspoken in supporting the withdrawal
from Gaza, and ahead of Sharon in speaking about the need to withdraw from
additional areas of the West Bank. This will aid him with Labor politicians
and voters who had moved to Kadima. Currently he is serving as Minister of
Finance, having replaced Benyamin Netanyahu when Bibi resigned on the eve of
the disengagement. Olmert has softened the harshness of Netanyahu's policy
of cutting welfare expenditures in the name of free-enterprise economic
reform. This also marks Olmert as non-ideological, open to pragmatic
adjustments, and attractive to voters who see themselves center-left on
economic issues. When Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem, Arab residents credited
him with being more forthcoming with resources for their neighborhoods than
his predecessor Teddy Kollek. According to an Arab holding a senior position
in the municipality, "Kollek was great at receptions honoring the
holidays, and a master of public relations, but did not deliver to the Arab
community."
Olmert is not above criticism. Some time ago he was singled
out in a report of the State Auditor when, as Health Minister, he arranged
the purchase of hospital equipment from a supplier affiliated with his Likud
Party, without going through the required process of competitive bids. And
just yesterday he was pictured in the business supplement of Ha'aretz
alongside Arkady
Gaidamak. Gaidamak is one of
Olmert's
reputation does not distinguish him from major competitors. The head of the
Labor Party, Amir Peretz, is said to have misused Labor Federation money,
when he headed that organization, to pay party dues for individuals who
provided a significant element of his primary victory. Netanyahu, currently
head of Likud, was investigated intensively by the police, along with his
wife, for the misuse of public resources while serving as prime
minister. He is widely known as a fluent speaker in English and Hebrew, but
especially in hyperbole, where truth is on another planet altogether.
Sharkansky is an emeritus member of the political science department at Hebrew University in Jerusalem |