(Haaretz-Barak interview)."In recent years Israel has paid a steep price for the lack of experienced leadership. Livni is all right as a person, but she does not purport to say that she is ready today to lead in a serious security crisis or political clash with the international community, or with a complex economic policy. Instead, she says: 'I will introduce a different politics, I will bring change.' "That statement needs to be attacked simply, directly and between the eyes: Kadima and 'a different politics' is an oxymoron. Politics and change can't work. There is no chance that Kadima will bring change. It did not even bring about the change that led to its different leadership. I was the one who had to 'bake' that change, put it in the oven and make sure it didn't fall apart ... On its own, Kadima would not have been capable of changing itself. Certainly it will not be able to change the country. It lacks all ability to introduce new norms or a different politics. "The word is that Tzipi Livni is unsullied. But our electoral system is not personal. We do not elect an individual. And even about that individual, one can say: Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. Livni says she can introduce a different politics, but she is surrounded by [people involved in] cases being heard in the courts and under investigation. Some of them were even convicted. So how can she talk seriously about clean politics when the contradiction between that assertion and her party is so clear? Just scratch the surface, like in those lottery cards, and you see the truth.
"On the Economy crisis, Kadima showed in the past few months how not to manage a country in the face of a crisis. It behaved with total confusion and in effect did nothing. When we said the crisis was imminent, they did not listen to us. When we said it was vital to convene the treasury, the governor of the Bank of Israel, the employers and the Histadrut [labor federation] to formulate a joint policy, they did nothing. As in other areas, the Kadima leaders did not see reality in front of their noses and waited until they slammed into the wall."
