Being Prime Minister Ain’t What it Used to Be

October 18, 2006 - 2:20 PM by

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Rinat spent a day at the Knesset, where she used to work every day, and talks about how times have changed. Those who remember Rinat in the early days of her blog, when she arrived in Israel as a wide-eyed, somewhat confused new immigrant, will be impressed at how she has been completely transformed into a savvy experienced observer of the Israeli political scene….

I’m writing just to say I wouldn’t want to be Ehud Olmert these days. I hadn’t been in the Parlament for nine months at least. It was weird to go into fifth floor, to the parties weekly meeting and enter Kadima’s meeting room (that used to be Likud’s one once) and to see Olmert sitting in a place which… doesn’t fit him, I guess. Anyway… After Olmert and Netanyahu (the opposition leader) speeches, I just ran to the third floor in order to wait for the MKs to leave the assembly. A few minutes later, Olmert left and headed towards the office of Knesset spokeswoman, Dalia Itzik. It was even weirder. Surrounded by bodyguards he walked through the journalists and even talked to some people.

I remember that at Sharon times, noone could even approach the PM. The security guards would stop everyone. People would stand for long minutes without moving in order to let the PM and his guards pass. We knew that the PM was about to come many minutes before he actually did because of security.

I also remembered Olmert as a populist. The kind of politician who likes shaking hands with everyone around. I myself shaked hands with him many times when I used to work for the Knesset channel and he was just a minister. He carries on keeping his sympathic style. It’s nicer than the tight security system that intimidated and annoyed journalists and regular people when Sharon was in power. At the same time, Olmert’s era shows us that more than leadership, Israeli politics has definitely lost its magic. The time of the big leaders is definitely over. At least here. At least now.

Tags: • Category: Politics 

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