The Morning After (A Reaction to Israel’s Elections)

The following is a guest post from my good friend, Michal, who is – dare I say it? – a twentysomething world explorer currently stumbling her way through life in the land of Israel. Here, she shares her opinions on the Israeli elections that recently took place and what it means for the country’s future:

Firstly, a general disclaimer- these are my opinions. The opinion of a lefty (in a country that is going increasingly to the right) who is slightly discouraged with the political system as a whole who tries her best to still stay optimistic…

Secondly, how it works- In Israel we have a parliamentary system of government. There were 120 Knesset seats up for grabs with 33 parties in the running, a party has to get a certain percentage in order to get into the Knesset with a minimum of 2 seats. Some of the small parties were absurd (there was one that comprised of holocaust survivors and young people wanting to legalize marijuana (only in Israel…)) while some had (semi) legitimate platforms (fighting organized crime etc…). It was known that from the get-go most if not all of these parties would not get into the Knesset.

After the results are in the president asks the leader of the party that got the most votes to form a coalition government. (In order to form a governmentyou need 61 seats. Since no one party ever gets that number a coalition of parties must be formed to make a government) That person is presumably going to be the Prime Minister and he/she has 6 weeks in which to form a government. Thus begins the politics of promising certain ministry positions and compromises, political wheeling and dealing and whatnot…

The country in general has become more right-leaning with the story of these elections being Israel Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman. Israel Beiteinu is a VERY right wing party full of unknowns and Lieberman is somewhat of a fascist. VERY anti-Arab and just a scary figure all around… His party has surpassed Labor to become the 3rd largest party and it is shocking and scary that he has gained so much ground, publicity and power.

The results as of Wednesday morning have Kadima with 28 seats, Likud with 27, Israel Beitenu- 15, Labor-13, Shas- 11 etc…

The left/right divide is right now looking like right-65 seats left/center (including Kadima)-55.

The votes of the soldiers as well as those of overseas diplomats and attaches still need to be counted with 4 or 5 seats still up for grabs. This could change the entire picture of what is going on (especially as soldiers tend to vote more right wing). We will have those results soon and that could very well make this post irrelevant…

In any event, the thinking is that Tzipi Livni the head of Kadima may not be able to form a coalition government even if she is chosen to do so (because of the right wing leanings of the majority if the Knesset). If she does not succeed, the job goes to the second largest party (in this case Likud) who will then go ahead and for a coalition.

My thoughts are that Livni’s main chances of forming a government are to have a Kadima/Labor/Likud coalition. I would like to see Barak stay as Minister of Defense and have Bibi become Foreign Minister.

If Bibi is chosen to form a government or if he gets it after Livni doesnt succeed there is no telling what will happen… I have already begun threatening to move back to the states if he forms a Likud/Israel Beitieinu/Shas government but I don’t think that will happen….

Either way, Israel Beiteinu will almost certainly be in a Likud led government and possibly in a Livni led govt. This means that Lieberman will need a ministerial appointment of some-sort. That means (hopefully) giving him one where his ridiculously fascist agenda can do as little harm as possible. (Health?) Who knows what Bibi will do. Either way we will have to wait and see.

As far as working with the Obama government, I think that a Livni/Obama dynamic has somewhat decent possibilities and that a Bibi/Obama dynamic could be disastrous… Thank goodness we never had a Bush/Bibi pairing… I hope if Bibi is chosen that Obama/Clinton/Mitchell can and will be strong enough to save us from ourselves…

On the whole I am disappointed in Labor only getting 13 seats. They were (are?) a major powerhouse in politics and at a time the only major force to be reckoned with. I truly hope they can get their issues sorted out and make a strong showing next time (that being said maybe it’s the Israeli people that need to get their issues sorted out…)

I am upset about Meretz (a smaller left wing party) getting only 3 seats. I remember the days when Meretz had 8-10 seats. While never one of the 3 majors, it used to be a power player and a force to taken seriously in coalition building.

I am not so hopeful about the outcomes either way. It is discouraging and disheartening to wake up the morning after elections and see that very little has changed and if possible gotten worse. The entire system in general needs to be shaken up and taken through reform.

There need to be young fresh politicians who are not corrupt, smarmy, or greedy. I know that is politics everywhere but in Israel it seems to be especially pronounced. Take for example the fact that 2 of the 3 candidates for prime minister already held the job and both were ousted early.

Let’s hope for the best.

Positive Outlook for the Inauguration

This came across my inbox today and was too good to not pass on. Definitely a nice break from the usually Inauguration news!

HOW TO START JANUARY 20TH WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

1. Open a new file in your computer.

2. Name it ‘George Bush’.

3. Send it to the Recycle Bin.

4. Empty it from the Recycle Bin.

5. Your PC will ask you: ‘Do you really want to get rid of ‘George Bush?’

6. Firmly Click ‘Yes.’

7. Feel better?

GOOD!

In a hour or so we’ll do Dick Cheney!

Advertising: Coming To A Phone Near You

Tonight, I attended the December MobileMonday DC meeting which focused on “Electioneering in the Mobile Age” and had an impressive speaker line-up with representatives from the Giuliani and Obama presidential campaigns as well as from Rock the Vote. The conversation centered around if/how each organization incorporated a mobile messaging component into their overall strategy this past Election season.

Here are five interesting facts I learned:

• 77% of Americans under the age of 24 use SMS
• Rock the Vote observed higher SMS opt-in rates among Latinos, African-Americans, women, those under 30, and those living on the coasts. (I might have had that written down incorrectly, it might just be East Coast…)
• The Obama for President Committee found high value in texting people on Election Day to inform them of polls that were kept open late, but were unable to find a viable way to message Americans oversees, due to the variety and number of possible systems they would have to test and integrate.
• Rock the Vote and the Obama for President Committee both had multilingual mobile campaign components – RTV had a Spanish mobile site and each was able to answer texts in a variety of languages
• The Rudy Giuliani for President Committee did not include mobile messaging as part of their overall strategy with obstacles including the perception that SMS was not appropriate for the target demographic (older audience) and the cost was too high

In the future we’ll be seeing other entities incorporate mobile campaigns into their marketing strategies through the use of optimized websites, iPhone Apps, and SMS (text messaging). SMS is a key component of a successful mobile campaign because of its guaranteed deliverability, ease and speed of use, and the two-way interaction that it facilitates.

And as these mobile campaigns become more commonplace, we’ll see higher levels of sophistication and integration between different social media avenues – in other words, people will be texted a link to a website, they’ll view the optimized website, which perhaps has a YouTube video embedded, and will then share the video with their friends on FaceBook.

As a marketing professional, it a relief to know there’s a new medium out there which is successful in getting information to the public. But as an individual, this all concerns me.

Of course, there’s a distinction between opt-in marketing campaigns, where you’ve elected to receive the texts, but I’m already experiencing unsolicited advertising coming through with AT&T/Apple sending me promotional texts. (They have my number since they are my mobile service provider.). It’s only a matter of time before all the junk I’m getting in my email comes to my phone and clutters that space as well.

SO – What do you think? Are text messages a way you’d want to get information from your political candidates and other companies? Or is your phone a sacred safe zone where ads don’t belong?