AND SO, THE NEW GOVERNMENT BEGINS

Let me begin by saying how happy I am to see that Ehud Olmert is finally out. Benjamin Netanyahu is now the prime minister of Israel once again after a decade.

I'm not happy that the cabinet has to consist of as many as 30 ministers, but this apparently had what to do with the greed of these smaller parties, who may be the ones to blame.

And if there's anyone else to blame, I think the National Union is going to have to take some, because their abysmal talents in negotiating coalition agreements has cost them the chance to have a possible ministry. What their leader, Ya'akov Katz, did was to issue an ultimatum to Netanyahu, that either he give them the construction ministry or they wouldn't join. I can see now why Caroline Glick was mad at them - that's no way to maintain coalition negotiations by implying that they won't be reliable coalition partners and making things too hard for the head.

But now, if this info is correct, it looks like the NU hasn't made things any better:

Also voting against the government was the Ichud Leumi (National Union) party, which stood by its demand that Prime Minister Netanyahu declare a position against the establishment of a new Arab state within Israel’s current borders.

As much as I'd like to credit them for demanding the aforementioned position, I get the strange feeling that their vote against approval of the government was less than altruistic. And I don't think they should have done that. What if it resulted in the government falling before it begun? And why do I have my doubts they really want to get rid of a bad government?

I'd like to think that if they're going to be in the opposition, that they'll learn a lesson for their incompetent strategy in negotiating a coalition deal. But I get the feeling they won't. Nice going there, NU. All you've done is make it sound like you've got nothing more than sour grapes, and for now, you've cost yourselves what could've been a promising role in the government.

Another problem with them, I suppose, is that the NU does not have a clear stance on industry and finance, which, if they were to show some serious talent and a willingness to reach out to people on the issues, might get them more respect. But they haven't ever shown any real talent in that capacity, and that's one more reason why it's hard to credit them.