Another New Look for Netanyahu

Bibi the First seemed doomed to fail. Having landed in the prime minister’s seat against all expectations, including his own, the country’s youngest-ever premier lacked plans, experience and friends. By the end of his first year in office, it was clear that he was muddling through while consistently losing fans, aides and allies. When that stint ended in a landslide defeat to Ehud Barak, no one was surprised.

Bibi the Second was the antithesis of all that. While his installation by Ariel Sharon at the Treasury also came unexpectedly, Netanyahu arrived there mature, sharp and well prepared. The speed, resolve and consistency with which he passed his conservative reforms were philosophically comprehensive, politically impressive and economically priceless.

The third Bibi, whose first year as prime minister has just ended, took a middle course between these two precedents, a course that can only lead that far, and last that long