Haaretz

[20.01.2009]

You don't have to be an American to get excited by the swearing-in of Barack Obama as president of the United States today. Even though we've learned to ease up on using the word "historic" to describe Obama's inauguration, it is indeed a rare event whose sound track includes not only the words of speakers, but also the flapping of the wings of history.

A country whose founders included slaveholders, which had a fierce internal struggle over slavery in the U.S. Civil War, whose laws allowed racial separation and discrimination until a few decades ago, is inaugurating a black leader. It's a great moment for Obama, but even greater for the American people, who are once again teaching humanity a lesson on the ability to adapt, change and ascend.

This is also a moment of leave-taking from the administration of George W. Bush. Bush's mistakes, whether related to his priorities or conduct, are dwarfed by his realization after September 11, 2001, that radical Islam had declared all-out war on the West; that those being attacked had to move the battle to enemy territory.

Despite the criticism over aspects of the military and political conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially after the fall of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, Bush should be credited with halting the attack by governments and organizations, rebels and radicals, who see the ends as justifying the means. Bush has had his share of mistakes and failures, but in the pantheon of American governments, and from the selfish perspective of Israel and its security, he is worthy of being remembered as a dedicated friend who helped Israel. He was the first president to support the establishment of a moderate and democratic Palestinian state alongside the Jewish one.

Bush's ambition of filling the region with democracy hasn't turned out so well. Even the Annapolis process has yet to bear fruit. The tasks are too heavy for a single government, but the grace period the public gives a new president could give him a one-time opportunity.

The Israeli-Arab conflict will be one of the Obama administration's many challenges. Obama, whose rise to power makes him the hope of many people around the world, would do well to personally, and quickly, renew the effort to achieve a stable peace that reconciles Israel with Syria and the Palestinians. Obama's grace period won't last long; would that he use it for the benefit of the Middle East.

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