WHY I WANT NETANYAHU TO WIN

I'm for Netanyahu. Livni proved totally irresponsible in shedding so much blood only so as to counter the rabbis' declaration that a girl can't be Prime Minister of a Jewish State. Netanyahu, however, is of that old school that can make pragmatic pirouettes on a dime, turning from stick to carrot, because he knows where he wants to go: an Israel that is a REAL state, integrated in the area, with universally recognized borders and productive ties to the Palestinians ("Greater Israel" is merely a campaign slogan, as was the Ingrun idea of a Jewish state between the two rivers-- the star between the stripes on the flag-- Nile and Euphrates. He was the only one to see the danger in the Israeli policy of treating Gaza like the Warsaw Ghetto, starving the Palestinians out and then shooting them like fish in a barrel. He therefore could be the only one of the PM candidates that Arabs can respect. The other candidates have proven to be crazy, whores or fools. Netanyahu has been around long enough to realize that under all that rage the Palestinians admire Israel and would love to have an Israel-like Palestine for their children. Also, Netanyahu is not a coward, like most Israeli politicians; he has both the chutzpah to be a crook and the guts to be a hero. He alone is not afraid of HAMAS and so can compete with it for the hearts and minds of the Palestinians. And, unlike many other Israeli politicians, he has more than cheap pride, he has inherited a sense of real dignity. Having dignity, he can appreciate Arab dignity. As for Sharon, for him, a hard line is not an end, but a means to a cohabitation end. He sees, as did Sharon, a limited purpose to the bloodletting: to get the Palestinians to better appreciate the carrot over the stick. Don't get me wrong, he shared Israel's Zionazi lebensraum thesis, achieved through ethnic cleansing. But he also realizes that Israel is no longer a country of willing executioners. He also realizes that young Israelis have no stomach for that and that the world will not permit it.Young Sabras stay as "reservists" in the IDF long enough to finish school and then dream of a job in LA. So good is their education in Israel that finding jobs abroad is a sinch...hence the aliyah in reverse. So Obama would do well to hope for Netanyahu to win and then be ready to stand firm and say: my way or you're on your own. Netanyhu will diplomatically appreciate that as the right of the payer over the payee. Few Israelis are as realist as Netanyahu, with no illusions about what the Diaspora can be made to do for Israel. He has enough dignity to understand that he who feeds you tells you what to do, hence his determination to make Israel totally self-sufficient; he also realizes that the more he integrates Israel into the Middle East, the less his nation must bow to America. And, the less Israel seems to the Arabs like a barking dog on an American leash, the more likely they are to accept Israel in their midst. Since BenGurion to Begin-- LaRonde midgets obsessed with compensating for their size by being shysters-- Israel had been ruled Lilliputian complexes relying on a foreign giant, America. Only the likes of real mensch like Dayan and Rabin could face the Palestinians man-to-man. Sharon knew that he would have to deceive Israelis by talking tough. PM Netanyahu did the same. But both came to be respected by the Arabs. Consequently, Obama can count on Netanyahu to realize, before any negotiating begins, that the better the economic integration with the Palestinians, the better the deal Israel can get from the Arab World. The tough talk is only to squeeze campaign dollars from Diaspora Jews and votes from Israelis. Once in power, like Sharon, his goal is peace and, like Sharon, he realizes that use of the stick only results from failure at providing the right carrot. The American similarity is Richard Nixon. He had a reputation as a "mad man" when it comes to the Soviets and Chicoms. Because of that, only he could make peace with China and work out an ABM Treaty. Even if you are not convinced, you will agree that nothing could be worse than the chick trying to prove that she is Dracula and the crazy MIT physicist general who thinks entropy by means of WMDs is the best solution.
hasEML = false;