Comparative Observation

At the risk of committing an election time taboo, I must make a confession: I've become terribly bored with the U.S. election.

Don't get me wrong, I believe it to be the most significant presidential contest in decades. But the overall process--the sniping, the partisan back and forth, and the bland debates over gaffes and flubs--is becoming rather dull.

So, while I proudly support and applaud our system of governance, I've always found proportional systems like Israel's to be more fascinating as an outside observer. In order to be the executive you have to build a governable coalition. Build a bi-partisan coalition, and you water down your policy platform. Build a partisan coalition, and you automatically create a common enemy amongst your rivals. The idea, in part, is to create a strong, enduring coalition; one capable of forestalling a nationwide election for as long as possible.

Such is Tzipi Livni's current dilemma. Shmuel Rosner explains:

Theoretically speaking, she can form a coalition of the left, without Shas, and with Kadima, Labor, the dovish Meretz and the support of Arab parliament members. The leaders of Shas spent time in the opposition in the past, and don’t like the taste of it. If they believe that Livni’s narrow coalition can survive for a while, their appetite for new elections might cool down very quickly.

Of course, such a coalition will have its own downside. First of all, it’s not at all clear that all Kadima members will follow Livni into it. Second, it will establish her squarely as a left-wing leader–giving Binyamin Netanyahu the benefit of having all right wing voters to himself, while she has to split left-wing voters with Labor.

And this will also be a very limited coalition. With barely 60 members of Knesset in her camp–half the parliament–every politician will be king. Livni, the Ms. Clean of Israeli politics, will have to cave time and again to all kinds of demands and pressures as not to lose the coalition. It can’t last for very long–and it’s not clear if Livni wants to take this path. Bottom line: as Shas goes, so goes the coalition.

Good luck with that, Ms. Livni.