Barak: Livni 'honest' but unfit to lead

Two weeks after signing coalition deal with Livni, Labor chair slams her for failure to form gov't.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Barak 224 88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Barak 224 88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Two weeks after signing a coalition agreement with Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, Labor chairman Ehud Barak said on Saturday that she is unfit to lead the country. Trailing Kadima and Likud by as much as 20 Knesset seats in the polls, Barak has gone on the offensive and challenged Livni and Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu to debates. At a cultural event in Tel Aviv, Barak said Netanyahu was unable to handle the crises facing the country, and he criticized Livni for failing to form a coalition. "Livni is honest and professional, but that's not enough to lead a country," Barak said. "Tzipi failed at forming a government. A man like [President] Shimon Peres would have formed a government within three days. I'm more careful. I would have formed a government within three weeks. I formed a government when there was a majority against me in the Knesset, not when there were 70 MKs in favor [like Livni had]." Responding to polls suggesting he could lead Labor from its current 19 seats to as few as 10, Barak compared himself to his American namesake, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who also did not take off in the polls immediately. Livni's associates responded by slamming Barak for delaying the formation of a government by struggling with Kadima over minutia in coalition talks. They accused him of "chutzpah" for ruling out the formation of a narrow government, which they said could have prevented the initiation of the February 10 general election. "Forming a government is not a goal in itself," said Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner, who is close to Livni. "Livni showed that even when she is a step away from the Prime Minister's Office, it doesn't make her abandon her principles. That's the leadership that she provides." Barak also faced criticism from within his own party. Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines said Barak should have enabled Livni to form a narrow government instead of giving Shas the key to forming a coalition. But he said he hoped the public's trust in Barak would improve and that he would not challenge him in Labor before the general election. Labor's ministers decided on Thursday to hold a primary to elect the party's Knesset slate on December 2, pending the approval of Thursday's Labor convention. Kadima is expected to decide on Tuesday to hold its primary the same week, while Likud will wait for the following week to elect its Knesset candidates. Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman, whose party's standing committee will select its Knesset candidates, predicted a landslide for the Right in the election. He said in an interview with Channel 2 on Saturday night that Kadima, Labor and Meretz together would not win more than 44 seats.