(Yossi Verter- Haaretz).As far as Olmert is concerned, let them both fall together.
The significance of his announcement yesterday is that he is staying until a new government is established in mid-March 2009. And even then, it is not at all clear that deep down in his heart he would not rather pass the keys over in an orderly fashion to Netanyahu.
Concerning Netanyahu, Olmert can relax. Bibi will not send the Likud young guard to protest outside the prime minister's residence demanding he go home. If anything, the Likudniks will shout: Olmert stay!
Assuming Olmert does continue to serve as the head of the transition government, no significant political changes can be expected. In any case, Olmert is at the end of his rope. Many long weeks will pass before his hearing, and the economic crisis is expected to worsen, drawing most of the frightened public's attention.
Livni will continue to struggle with a monkey in the shape of a prime minister from her own party on her back, with an indictment hovering over him and still continuing to insist on conducting negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians.
Maybe the return of the corruption issue to the election campaign will add a little color to Livni's cheeks, and add a seat or two in the polls, but she cannot depend on it for long. As long as the economic crisis is going strong, Livni will be on the defensive. She can try to draft the Kadima Knesset faction to put pressure on Olmert, but he is not even required to hear them out. He is no longer involved. Politics is beneath him now. In any case, since Livni was chosen he no longer attends faction meetings, and no one can enter his official residence without an invitation.
Until the economic crisis broke, it seemed corruption would be at the center of the election campaign, and that was Livni's strength - in fact her only advantage over Barak and Netanyahu. But with the economic crisis, who cares anymore about Rishon Tours.
