This is too much. Pigs are flying, pinch me.
Olmert must go
By Ari Shavit
Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.
However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.
Once again, I agree with Shavit's conclusion, though not at all with how he gets there. This has been happening to me a lot lately. Shavit would seem to believe Olmert should never have attacked Hezbollah in the first place. He should, instead, have perhaps sat back and relied on the UN to protect Israel's northern cities and get her kidnapped soldiers back.
Whatever.
But misdirection is the essence of magic. Not that Ehud Olmert is even a competent conjurer. But he has some help right now.
In the immortal words of Leo McGarry: watch this.
And pray.
