Sharon thinks only of himself

[Classical_Liberal]

Sharon thinks only of himself

By Gideon Samet



The soothsayers trying to understand Ariel Sharon's
new political plan and how it will be born should
make note of what actually happened to send them
to their crystal balls. It wasn't the casualties
on both sides. Nor was it a smartened-up
initiative that was kept in reserve for nearly
three years until the moment was right. Nor the
American pressure, which collapsed, anyway, into
their presidential election season. Sharon once
again tossed out his vague clauses only because
his situation worsened.



Such political egoism breaks
Sharon's own records. Public
relations and spin are an
irreproachable part of any
leader's career.

But not when the fate of the
state hangs in the balance.
Not when its image advisers
and advertising men need to

whisper into the prime minister's ear that it's
time to "do something." And it's not
leadership, but the worst kind of deception,
when Sharon drips moderate announcements
because that's what the polls of recent weeks
dictate him to do. Some good might have come
out of that, nonetheless, if rising public
pressure, bad polls and other trouble inside
the Likud were making Sharon deviate from his
misleading political path and head for a
genuine agreement. But even the four ex-Shin
Bet chiefs, with the clubbing they gave him in
their joint interview, couldn't make him head
that way.

By all signs, his new promise does not justify
any real expectations. He made clear through
some associates and apparently in conversations
with his partners, that he won't go so far as
to drive the right out of the government.
Inside the party there is discomfort about his
disturbed status in Likud branches and on the
street. Of course, that's not where the support
for a daring political move would come from.
The trial balloon Sharon floated is first of
all an attempt to pave a bypass road around
troubles by going straight to the public as
that same old good grandfather from the days of
the election campaign with a pocketful of
surprising biscuits. He puts off handing them
out until the summer, to play with them as a
lure during the long wait. He hints to the
right that there's nothing in his pockets, and
sends one of his winks to the left and center,
where there still are people who have not
despaired of them. True, as has been his wont,
the prime minister is capable of stunning with
surprise the most orthodox of his followers.
But he will never do it if the move will harm
his political base....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/365086.html