You Think President Bush is Unpopular?:
Prime Minister Olmert of Israel was reported yesterday to have a 3% (not a typo!) approval rating, and that was before the release of an official report today concluding that Olmert was guilty of "serious failure" in his conduct of last Summer's war in Lebanon. What's especially remarkable about Olmert's low approval rating is that Israel's economy is absolutely booming. If Olmert had any decency, he'd resign.
Yeah. IF Olmert had any decency. And if my bubbie had certain attributes, she'd be my zaidey.
Somehow I think not having decency is responsible for Politicians Success, not the other way around.
I hope Livni can pull it off, but I'm not hopeful. Bibi is right on a lot of issues, but disengagement is the only rational way of insuring Israeli security. I fear that Netanyahu would overstretch Israel's military and give the warring Palestinian factions something to fight other than each other. Let the Palestinians fight it out, and hope that cooler heads prevail -- then there can be a peace process.
Sadly, it seems that Kadima is as much on life support as Sharon is -- and I'm not sure that the long-term prognosis is much different between the two. Both are a tragedy for Israel.
So are you on record as saying that when a politician's numbers hit some magic number they should resign? Cheney was at 13% at one point if I recall correctly. Should he have resigned? Please, let me know the number at which you think Bush should resign, and I will do my best to get him here. I would assume this doesn't only apply to leaders you disapprove of, right?
I have read accounts from several, but spoken to only two. They settled there in the late 1960s. The couple I spoke to bought land in the middle of nowhere. When they took possession, they were welcomed with gifts of food from the headmen of the two nearest Arab villages, who told them that in the Muslim tradition, the land they had bought had been part of the tribe of Dan. The headmen also told them that if the Jews were going to be creating jobs, the local populace would be very grateful, as the area was very poor.
They did create jobs, bringing in irrigation, raising high quality flowers and vegetables, and employing quite a number of local Arabs who had had no income before they came. The first intifada, in the late 1980s, radicalized the younger Arabs in the area. Even so, the "settlements" still offered the best hope for the local economy and for any kind of Jewish-Arab cooperation. Oslo and the second intifada made things worse. I guess that 40 years ago they should have had your smug prescience, so they would not have wasted 40 years of their lives trying to build the land and improve the lot of Jew and Arab alike.
You recall incorrectly. Cheney's approval rating has never been less than 30%. See here.
Yeah, I saw that claim re: Reid's snark, but I recall Cheney's polling well under the crazification factor.
Maybe the problem is the specific poll. Approval ratings seem to be higher than favorability ratings. CBS has recorded Cheney's *favorability* at 19% (back in Nov. 2005).
So I think that what people remember later is "Cheney polled at 19%," not whether that was "favorability" or "job approval" or whatever.
As you'd expect, in Israel the political question (a.k.a. "The Arab-Israeli Conflict") is the cardinal question of the political system. Sadly, we haven't reach the stage where economic and social considerations can have too much of an effect. Corrupt dealings are still negatively viewed, thankfully.
Re: resignation
In Israel, the Knesset (which is elected and therefore directly responsible to the public) can fire the prime minister if it chooses. If most members of parliament believe Olmert is a better choice than likely replacements (one Benjamin Netanyahu is the front-runner) they should keep him in office. If the public disagrees, they can vote these MKs out of office. Going back to the main political consideration, I would side with keeping Olmert in power.
Isn't there someone better?
Not in a single instance did it produce "land for peace," reminiscent of UNSCR 242 and similar formulations. Not in a lone, single, solitary instance. Nada.