Barack Obama For President - Of Israel

With Moshe Katsav's term as Israel's President effectively over, Israeli legislators now have the daunting task of finding a suitable successor -someone capable of filling Katsav's sizeable shoes. The candidate must be brash, independent, and most importantly, he must be sqeaky clean. The obvious candidate? Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who recently declared himself a Presidential candidate in America for 2008.

The man wants to be a President. I say we give him a chance! Why wait for 2008? Barack for President 2007!

Just as in America, Obama is a something of a darkhorse in the race for Israel's Presidency. But he can do something no one in Israel can do: bridge the gap between Israel's rival camps and create peace and harmony between different segments of the population. And isn't that the real role of the President - to unite the country and represent the nation in an admirable way, as Katsav did for so many years before his recent troubles?

Plus, if Obama is elected President (of Israel), it would mark another giant leap in Israel's relations with the US. He speaks excellent English (unlike interim President Dalia Itzik), and he probably has no clue about Israeli politics, so he won't be a constant meddler (like previous President Ezer Weitzman). I would even be willing to bet he would champion instituting Sundays off like no one before him. That alone is enough to make him President in my book.

But honestly, there is so much more. Obama could herald a new era in Israeli politics, a era of good, clean government that makes Israelis proud to be, uhm...Israeli like him. I think its worth a try. Can we really do worse that Katsav? And if Barack is Israel's President, he probably won't run in the US election in 2008. So we'd be killing two birds with one stone.