All politics are local…
Today, there are municipality elections throughout the country, including in my town of Modi’in. The news is certainly focusing on all the sexy elections such as the former head of the air force vs. the communist in Tel Aviv and the high tech mogul vs the Rabbi in Jerusalem but hey, there are important issues we are dealing with here in the suburbs as well.
My wife and I have been following our local election very closely. It’s only the second time I’ll be voting where the “situation” isn’t an issue. It’s quite refreshing actually weighing candidates on issues such schools, city expansion, economic growth, dog poop etc.
Now there are two parties we support, Shachar – a party of secular and religious residents whose main emphasis is on improving education – and the Greens – who are all about the environment, improving the quality of life and care deeply about the preservation of Modiin’s local archeological sites.
Mayor is a different story. The candidate I support has been polling fairly low. Even though the two leading candidates will probably have a run off and force another election I am still voting for the lower polling candidate who I believe not only would do a superior job, but has always been responsive to my concerns as a resident of Modiin. Someone mentioned today that one should never vote on strategy but rather who you believe will do the best job. I subcribe to that philosophy as evidence in my disastrous vote for Tafnit in the last national elections. Honestly, I’ll vote for whoever promises to establish quality dog runs in Modiin. I’ve been living here almost six years and my dog has gotten pretty anti-social due to the strict leash laws and the lack of open space for our pooches to run around. That’s my issue. Bring on the dog runs!
The Israeli blogosphere on Obama
There exists a world of English writing bloggers – native born as well as immigrants – here in Israel and like everyone else in the world are thinking about President-elect Obama. Here is a sample of what the English writing Israeli blogosphere is saying:
• Native Israeli Shachar over at frgdr.com was the first to create Obama posters in Hebrew which were spotted all over America. He’s elated and says “As someone who is not a US citizen and could not vote in the elections, I can still say I have done my part, however small, and proudly announce that I helped elect Barack Obama. Like millions of others, I, too, was inspired by the man and the campaign he ran. The Hebrew graphics I designed were viewed thousands of times and the files I made available were downloaded hundreds and hundreds of times.”
• Gershom Gorenberg over at South Jerusalem has what he calls “hope envy.” He laments: “Yesterday was a rare moment that I wished I was over there – standing in an unexpected line to vote, celebrating afterward with friends in the streets of Washington, New York or Chicago, getting up this morning wondering what special blessing a religious Jews should say for such an event.
• Rock of Galilee isn’t an Obama fan but at least he has a sense of humor about it. He’s having a few computer problems and blaming Obama.
• Amir Mizroch of the Jerusalem Post talks about a speculative Q&A going on in the Israeli government right now.
• Dave at Israellycool wrote a song all about Obama to the tune of the theme to Transformers (robotrickim in Hebrew). It’s horrible and he should be punished.
• Sarah stayed up all night live blogging and her shplikes has gotten the best of her I’m afraid. She has not been heard from since.
• Occidental Israeli is worried about Rahm Emanuel’s appointment and hopes that some of the Irgun blood running through his veins has some weight. Don’t hold your breath.
• Niv Calerdon is jumping on the Obama bandwagon and hopes to use the momentum to get more people using Firefox. What?
• Gila of My Shrapnel, despite being eligible to vote sat this one out believing that since she no longer lives in America she shouldn’t have a say in their elections. Her argument is a compelling one and can be read in it’s entirety here.
• And finally Shy of Total Eclipse was up all night feeling nervous about the outcome of the election. He’s relieved and completely jealous that he was unable to be part of the process.
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