From Gush Shalom
.jpg/640px-President-elect_Donald_Trump_-_Caricature_(30618078850).jpg "From commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President-elect_Donald_Trump_-_Caricature_(30618078850).jpg: President-elect Donald Trump -- Caricature")
THE FIRST shock has passed. President-Elect Donald Trump. I am gradually getting used to the sound of these words.
We are entering an era of complete uncertainty. We Israelis and the entire world. From shoe-shine boy to head of state.
Nobody knows.
BUT FIRST we must say goodbye to Barack Obama.
Frankly, I like the guy. There is something noble about him. Upright. Honest. Idealistic.
When the cameras showed him this week sitting together with Donald Trump, the contrast could not have been greater. Obama is the anti-Trump. Trump is the anti-Obama.
And yet....
Yet in all the eight long years of his presidency, President Obama has done nothing, nothing at all, for peace in our region.
In these eight years, the Israeli ulra-right has flourished. Settlements in the occupied territories have multiplied and grown larger. After every new settlement expansion, the State Department has dutifully condemned it. And then given Binyamin Netanyahu another few billions. And the latest gift was the biggest ever.
When he came into office, Obama made some very beautiful speeches in Cairo and Jerusalem. Many exquisite words. And they were just that: mere words.
Some people believe that now, when Obama is free of all obligations, he will use his last two months in power to atone for his sins and do something meaningful for Israeli-Palestinian peace. I doubt it.
(Years ago, at some European congress, I accused the Spanish Diplomat Miguel Moratinos of doing nothing for Israeli-Palestinian peace. In his aggressive reply, he accused me of sheer impertinence. Why should anyone do anything for the Israeli peace forces, if these forces themselves do nothing to achieve peace?)
Have we heard the last of the Obama family? I am not sure. Somehow I have the idea that after four or eight years we will see another Obama running for president: Michelle Obama, the wildly and rightly popular first lady, who has all the qualities needed: She is black. She is a woman. She is highly intelligent. She has a sterling character. (Unless in the New America, these are all negative qualities.)
THERE WAS some comfort in the election results. Hillary Clinton got more votes than Donald Trump. She lost in the electoral college.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
