As you may have heard, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced his decision to leave the right-wing Likud Party and to form a new, centrist party. According to "sources close to Sharon," his new "National Responsibility Party" will be a "true centrist party, from every perspective: political, economic and social." The goal, apparently, is to "be the leader who defines, at last, the borders of Israel." In other words, what we may have here is the Israeli case of "only Nixon can go to China." All this got me thinking: who could be our Ariel Sharon right here in the United States? What I mean is, just as the Likud is far to the right of most Israelis, the Republican Party has moved far to the right of most Americans over the past few years. Who, then, can either: a) lead the Republican Party back to the respectable center/right; or b) form a new party, possibly a Teddy Roosevelt-style "Bull Moose" (or a real Reform/Progressive Party not led by an...er, "eccentric" person like Ross Perot)?
How about this for a suggestion: John McCain, along with Colin Powell, forms a new centrist/"Bull Moose" party, joined by people like Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarznegger, Rudy Giuilani, George Pataki, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chafee, Arlen Specter, Chuck Hagel, George Voinovich, Joe Lieberman, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Wesley Clark, Gerald Ford, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Warner, and possibly even Mark Warner? A party based on the "sensible center" of reform and forward progress in a non-ideological fashion? A party focused on actually getting things DONE for the American people, on strengthening America as a nation, and not on dividing it through "wedge issues," "culture wars," and "identity politics?"
Would a New Bull Moose Party ever have any chance of working in this country, especially given the entrenched nature of the Republicans and Democrats? Probably not, but I would point out that both parties' approval rating right now are approaching Kim Jong-Il levels. More to the pont, would John McCain ever agree to leave the right-wing radicals who have taken over his Republican Party and set up a new, "Bull Moose for the 21st Century"/"Third Way"/National Unity Party? Would McCain - along with Colin Powell and others - be willing to play the role of Ariel Sharon, the military hero who loves his country more than his party, who is willing to take political risks to accomplish what is best for his beloved nation, and who is strong enough to speak the truth to the people?
Probably not, but you never know. For the moment, Ariel Sharon in Israel gives me hope that the radicals on both sides right here in the United States can be jettisoned (or at least marginalized), allowing the "sensible center" - the vast majority of Americans - to reassert control. If not, it seems to me that we will just continue indefinitely along our current, dysfunctional, unproductive, vitriolic, hyperbolic, nasty, bitter, bloody, partisan course. And that would not be a pretty picture, as the past few years have demonstrated. Frankly, in the post-9/11 world, we can't afford this crap. We need to be unified to face the threats anc challenges facing us. But right now, we simply aren't there.
So c'mon, Senator McCain, come be our Ariel Sharon/Teddy Roosevelt. Say farewell to a Party that so obviously has left YOU. Help save our country from fiscal, economic, environmental and national security ruin. One last mission for an old naval aviator and hero.