It Takes a Removal from Office

Since they left office, President Clinton and Al Gore have gone on to do great things. The former started the Clinton Global Initiative to fight AIDS in Africa, and the latter raised awareness of global warning. President Carter (although some may think he's lost it) has continued his work outside of political office to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These are just a few examples (and I'm sure there are many more), but my point here is that these cases evidence the fact that politics get in the way of getting real things done--meaningful things that affect peoples' lives.

I think of this because today in the NYTimes, there is an article about how Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Prime Minister of Israel, said in an interview that Israel needs to withdraw from most (if not all) of its West Bank settlements and stop posturing toward an international conflict with Iran. These are striking comments coming from the leader of Israel, comments that need to be said but, unfortunately, are only said as he is leaving office under the suspicion of government corruption. It seems as though Israeli (and international) politics have limited his ability to say this before, and again, have stood in the way of meaningful change.

(The Times article gives a brief statement from the opposition: "Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu party, said on the radio that Mr. Olmert was 'endangering the existence of the State of Israel irresponsibly' [and that] "those who thought Israel’s problem was a lack of defined borders — as Mr. Olmert stated in the interview — 'are ignoramuses who don’t understand anything and they invite war.'" Just thought this was interesting because it clearly defines how unproductive these politics can be.)