So now that Bibi made his speech, I am in a quandary. I’ll tell you why: I had pretty much decided that I’m sitting out this election. I wasn’t going to vote.
It didn’t matter how many people told me, “Hold your nose and vote for a party on the right—the party with the platform closest to your views.”
It didn’t matter how many times people told me that the more seats to the right, the freer Bibi would be to enact right-wing policy.
It didn’t matter because frankly, I’ve become jaded. I vote for the right and get left-wing policy.
Every. Frigging. Time.
It makes me nuts. It makes me INSANE that I end up voting for the left no matter how far to the right I cast my vote. I just don’t want to enable that anymore. I’m done.
That’s what I thought, anyway.
Until now, that is. Until Bibi’s speech.
So the thing is, every time Bibi opens his mouth, I can’t help but think he is the only Israeli politician today with real leadership qualities. In fact, I’ve seen him in person and I can tell you, this man is a leader. He’s gracious. He’s charismatic. His English is flawless. He knows how to work a crowd.
And now, with his historic address to Congress, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if Bibi won by a HUGE margin. Would he still be enacting policy far to the left of Rabin?
I just don’t know. I really don’t.
But I know that Bennett simply doesn’t have what Bibi has. And it’s not about acquiring a skill. It’s not something one can learn. Leaders are born, not made. You could groom Bennett until the cows come home and he’d still be Bennett. I like what he says. He’s great in a debate.
But he lacks that certain something that Bibi has in spades.
Not to mention Livni the backstabber who reminds me of a bathmat with stubborn suction cups that just gloms onto every surface it encounters.
And Buji??? Milquetoast. All the way. Like voting for BEIGE.
Lapid? The guy’s got great hair. I’ll give him that. But I don’t vote hair.
So now I have a quandary. To vote or not to vote?
To hold my nose and vote for Likud? Vote for the Bibi who talked reciprocity and gave away Hevron for nothing?
The Bibi who left the government over Disengagement but also voted in favor of Disengagement FOUR TIMES?
The Bibi who spoke out against Oslo then years later gives the Bar Ilan speech?
The Bibi who is head of the Greater Israel camp but froze construction in Judea and Samaria?
The Bibi who denounced giving in to terror in the book he wrote, Terrorism: How the West Can Win, and then released over one thousand terrorists for Gilad Shalit?
But what if. I mean what if???
What if my vote really made a difference? What if the right voted in huge numbers for the man who gave that stunning speech to Congress today?
Would Bibi finally be a leader of the Israeli right?
I just don’t know.
I really just don’t know.
