Opinion

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Dry Bones

(FANATICAL IRAN
Is PUSHING AHEAD
TO GET NUCLEAR
WEAPONS

Editorial

A Broken Government

T

here is always the hope in a
democracy that extraordinary
times will call forth extraordi-
nary leaders. We cling to a sense that they
will grow in office and rise to meet the
crisis.
It seems, however, that Israel has been
painfully let down by the character of its
leaders in dangerous times.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will resign
from office this month, surrounded by
accusations of corruption and dimin-
ished by an inconclusive and costly war
against Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. His
approval rating is almost invisible.
This follows the resignation of former
president Moshe Katsav, tangled up in
charges of rape and sexual harassment by
two government employees.
What makes this all the harder to take
is that the character of these two men was
no secret to political insiders and jour-
nalists. Shortly before he succeeded the
comatose Ariel Sharon as prime minister,
Olmert was the subject of a withering
report by the newspaper Ha'aretz, which
labeled him "Prime Minister of Lack of
Evidence."
It summarized a list of corruption cases
where he was accused or investigated, but
which ended in dismissals because the
proof would not hold up in a court of law.

In recent months, though, American
businessman Morris Talansky testified
in an Israeli court that he gave envelopes
stuffed with thousands of dollars to
Olmert before he became prime minister.
Olmert was also accused of double and
triple billing overseas trips to Jewish insti-
tutions while staying with relatives.
More seriously, an official government
report condemned his decisionmaking
during the war in Lebanon in which 4,000
rockets rained down on Israeli cities.
Katsav, similarly, was regarded as a
lightweight with questionable appetites
when he secured the Likud nomination to
oppose Shimon Peres in 2000. It was felt
that his lack of a substantial paper trail in
middle-ranking ministerial posts would
get him in. Which it did, but at what cost?
There is no reason for Israelis to expect
their political leaders to be more selfless
and pristine than those of other nations.
But the elevation of politicians with such
limited records of accomplishment and
shaky reputations ought to be a warning
that things are out of whack in the Israeli
system.
Recent peace initiatives by Olmert
towards the Palestinians and Syria have
been understandably brushed aside. What
good would it do to close a deal with
a lame duck, asks Israeli analyst Yossi

ISRAEL TODAY

7— AND NOW
THEY'RE SHOWING
OFF THEIR MISSILE
CAPABILITIES!

•

APPARENTLY
MATS
WHAT WE'RE
COUNTING ON!

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www.drybonesblog.com

Alpher,"since he would have a hard time
getting any deal approved."
So any meaningful advance in that
direction is frozen until Israel can get its
leadership situation sorted out. Given the
awkward and agonizing coalition-building

process of Israeli politics, that could take
months.
That kind of delay is something Israel
can't afford right now But, sadly enough,
that's where its leadership has brought the
country.

❑

Reality Check

The Wages Of Arrogance

T

he late Mike Royko wrote that
the unofficial motto of Chicago
city government was "Where's

mine?"
In Detroit, that would translate as:
"You got yours. Now it's our turn."
That is the civic culture that produced
Kwame Kilpatrick and has turned the
city's public school system into a dis-
grace; the sense that political leadership
involves entitlement rather than service.
It is pervasive through every echelon
of government. It defines the mayor's
buddies, his paramour and his dear old
dad, the alleged bagman.
If there is anything of value that
can come out of the Kwame quagmire
maybe it is this: The understanding,
at long last, that black leaders must be
held accountable for their actions and
cannot deflect responsibility by holler-
ing racism.
This is hardly what you'd call a stun-
ning revelation in most of the United

States. But remember we're
talking about Detroit.
There are still many people
here who cannot accept the
fact that a gifted young black
leader could bring on his own
downfall through arrogance,
mendacity and contempt for
anyone else's rules.
He was so sharp, so persua-
sive. Suburban audiences stood
up and cheered when they
heard him.
No, there had to be something more. A
plot, a cabal, a media conspiracy, a part
of the ongoing campaign to discredit
and destroy any black leader who dares
to walk like a man.
So many business and religious
leaders who may have been able to
limit the damage remained silent
for too long because they knew that
speaking out would bring the reflexive
charge of racism.

But this is where we are
ended up in the middle of an assault
in Detroit. Stuck in the past. case.
Can't let it go. It's still 1973
That's the statement of a man coming
south of Eight Mile when
unglued. He sees a racist under every
every setback can be attrib- bed. Of course, if he'd been more selec-
uted to racism.
tive in those arrangements, none of this
It's such a handy crutch.
would have happened.
That way you can never
There truly is nothing to gloat about
run out of other people to
here. This is a tragedy in the classic
blame for your own misery.
sense.
Of course, racism exists.
The Greeks had a word for it. They
There are people who gloat
called it hubris, an arrogant pride
about all this because
that blinded its possessor to right and
Kilpatrick is an African-American.
wrong.
But is Dave Bing a racist? Kwame
In ancient Athens it was regarded as
Kenyatta? Kym Worthy? Ken Cockrel Jr.?
a major sin, because it inevitably led to
Rev. Nick Hood? Rev. Edgar Vann?
violence and swept up innocent people
All the other black leaders who finally in its vortex.
gathered up their courage and spoke
Millenia may pass but not much
out?
changes in the human heart.
"How can you ride around with
a white man;' the mayor allegedly
George Cantor's e-mail address is
demanded of the black female deputy
gcantor614@aoLcom.
who came to serve a subpoena and

❑

September 4 • 2008

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