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Shimon Peres after his last loss, to Amir Peretz
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| By israelinsider staff May 28, 2007 |
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Throwing caution to the wind as only an octogenarian can, Vice Premier Shimon Peres ignored the advice of at least one of this senior political advisers, and decided to run for Israel's presidency and trying to shake off his lifelong reputation as an "indefatigable underminer" (Yitzhak Rabin's words) and a serial loser.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday told Peres that he would do everything in his power to help him become the next president. Olmert, who coat-tails couldn't be shorter than any previous holder of Israeli office -- with 0% popularity ratings -- nevertheless believes that he can endorse his Vice to the first electoral victory after a string of stinging defeats -- the last one his loss to Amir Peretz for the Chairmanship of Labor, which caused him to leave the party, and to Moshe Katsav in the 2000 Presidential election -- an election he thought he had "in the bag" -- until the results were announced.
"I have no doubt that electing Peres is be the natural choice, and I have no doubt that if elected president he will bring to the role the status and dignity that Israel deserves. Had we tried to compile a list of all the qualities and merits that a president must have, I suppose Peres' biography would have fit the profile perfectly," Olmert said at the meeting.
Peres himself is expected to announce his candidacy only Wednesday, Haaretz reported, due to his wife Sonia's failing health. Sonia Peres suffered severe heart failure last week, possibly while watching a critical documentary about her husband's bitter rivalry with Yitzhak Rabin.
Coalition whip MK Yoel Hasson and MK Ronit Tirosh, both Kadima party members, have begun to collect MKs' signatures in support of Peres' presidential bid. Olmert was the first to sign up, and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Knesset Constitution Committee Chairman Menachem Ben-Sasson, among others, also offered their support, Haaretz reported.
Hasson said Saturday that he is certain that the Knesset will respect the public's wishes to see Peres as president, and that the vice premier will win support from many parties.
One pundit unlikely to be impressed is Yediot columnist Ofer Shelah, who in a blistering 2006 column, Peres for Sale, chronicled the decline in value and capability of Peres.
"At his advanced age," Shelah wrote, "Peres finds himself in a position in which everyone knows he must -- and can -- be bought. With honor, with attention, by singing his praises to attest to his value."
"This will not solve the problem, because this need is also insatiable. But it's all that can be done. And from year to year, from one electoral failure to the next, the price of upkeep doesn't change. Only the honor it brings with it becomes more and more questionable."
Senior adviser Eyal Arad told Peres that he was unlikely to get the necessary votes in a secret ballot of Knesset members, Haaretz reported, and that a defeat would be disgrace his public and international image. Peres is already branded as a loser among the Israeli public, having lost an unprecedented seven elections for top offices.
Peres' fitness for high office has recently been questions as film came to light of him falling asleep while answering a question about the Iranian threat to Israel.
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