Netanyahu: A Brilliant but Flawed Candidate

Netanyahu's Likud primary victory is mixed news. He has extraordinary talent and ideological comprehension. Of the three critical areas in Israeli politics, he has already been Israel's best individual performer in two. As UN Ambassador, he has been Israel's most effective spokesman since Herzl. After hearing Bibi speak in front of the US Congress, Rush Limbaugh bemoaned the fact that he wasn't US President. As Finance Minister, he has ignited an economic explosion by boldly pushing the simple, yet politically elusive, economic principle articulated here. In the third area, security, his book A Place Among the Nations was one of the greatest ever written. (It's $2.50 at the moment--buy it.) As a result, I predict that Likud will now bounce back in the polls. He is, unfortunately, also a classic illustration of the Peter Principle.

As a threat to Israel's oligopolistic entrenched interests, the leftist media savaged him as Prime Minister. Shelli Yechimovich, a key media personality (and now a Labor candidate), admitted this openly. As a talk radio host during his tenure, I documented the venom. For example, an article in Haaretz directly compared him to Arafat, finding only negatives in Bibi's side, compared to praise for Arafat. At the same time, some of his reputation is deserved--he has a knack for alienating allies, seeing them as competition.

Were it possible to install a competent Prime Minister above him and take him on a really effective team-building skills workshop, he would be ideal in nearly any significant role. Unfortunately, both of these options are equally unrealistic at the moment. Fortunately Israels no longer have to hold their noses and vote directly for Prime Minister (the latter was an expired law; the former, only a custom). Israelis may find themselves with Netanyahu as a flawed, but strong #2 in the next government, or even a lesser-of-two-evils #1.