Wanted: Courage

Ehud Olmert gives a quite stunning interview in which he states that Israel must withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem for the sake of peace and a two-state solution, and that notions of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities are ridiculous.

He said that traditional Israeli defense strategists had learned nothing from past experiences and that they seemed stuck in the considerations of the 1948 war of independence.

“With them, it is all about tanks and land and controlling territories and controlled territories and this hilltop and that hilltop,” he said. “All these things are worthless.”

He added, “Who thinks seriously that if we sit on another hilltop, on another hundred meters, that this is what will make the difference for the State of Israel’s basic security?”

Of course, he said all this the day after he resigned as the Kadima Party leader and Prime Minister of the country, when he no longer had, you know, control over these policies. And this is the central contradiction of politics - citizens claim to value honesty from their leaders, but so many roadblocks are constructed to prevent it. What we need in the world is more courage.

And one thing I think everyone can agree on is that we need less world leaders who are willing to believe debunked right-wing email forwards. Who knew that Asif Ali Zardari gets the same crap emails that my uncle sends me?

Lighten Up, Francis

I can almost hear the political consultants throughout Iowa reacting to the news of Benazir Bhutto's death with admonitions that their candidate has to "own it." But there's something rather unseemly about using it as some sort of club to bash their opponents with. The media isn't solely to blame for the politicization of absolutely everything; the candidates themselves can shoulder some of it.

Mind you, I'd much rather have candidates argue over US policy in Pakistan than, say, which candidate wrote what essay in kindergarten or did drugs or got a haircut or wore a low-cut top. But shouldn't that argument have something to do with the ACTUAL US POLICY in Pakistan and not this crystal ball formulation of how Bhutto's death reflects on various election messages and themes?

P.S. The real coup de grace of this comes from Slummy Joe Lieberman, whose campaign email for St. McCain is nicely deconstructed by Matt Yglesias. Shorter Joementum: "Bush-Cheney caused a lot of problems. That's why we need John McCain to use the same policies to fix them!"

UPDATE: Krugman:

If you’re a tough guy (or gal) who believes in exerting US power — never mind, there are just too many heavily armed people in Pakistan for anyone but Norman Podhoretz to believe that we could throw our weight around. If you believe you can bring new understanding to the world through your enlightened outlook — sorry, there are too many people in Pakistan who don’t want to be enlightened. If you believe that we’d have more influence in the world if we hadn’t squandered our resources and good will in Iraq (which I do) — well, sorry, that influence wouldn’t extend to being able to bring peace and light to Pakistan.

Shades Of Rosie Ruiz

A former Presidential candidate in Mexico, Roberto Madrazo, ran the Berlin Marathon in a time an hour shorter than his previous best. German race officials outfit each competitor with a tracking chip that charts them every few kilometers. Madrazo didn't show up for two checkpoints and then suddenly was at the front of the pack. He was disqualified from the race today.

To repeat, this is a guy who was almost President of Mexico, caught cheating in a marathon.

Stick that in your memory banks the next time you wonder why powerful political figures so often commit dishonest actions.

They're VAIN.