I recently looked over a few job postings for senior positions that appeared in the newspapers. One thing that stuck out in all of the ads were the words "experience necessary." Such experience is a necessary condition for any senior position. It is only in the political system that previous experience is deemed an impediment.
In a country in which security – both personal and national – is the central item on the agenda, citizens are looking for previous experience and someone they can trust with their existence when they head to the ballot box. But lately, we have been witness to a trend that sees young, fresh faces elected as party heads, and as a result, these parties crash and burn come Election Day.
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This is what happened to the Meretz party with Tamar Zandberg. A worthy candidate by any means, the party under her leadership nevertheless did not succeed in the election. This is also what happened in the Labor party, which crashed under a new party chief by the name of Avi Gabbay. As a result of his inexperience, Gabbay found it difficult to keep his party from focusing on unimportant issues – like the authority of party chairman and efforts to strip the party's secretary general of various powers – and did not know how to instill harmony among its leadership. More importantly, he was unable to convince the public to see him as a reliable candidate on the central issue of our lives: security.
In life, there is a pathway that serves to train a person for their job: experience. Being a lawmaker and media darling does not make you the right person to lead a party in an election or vie for the role of prime minister. Somewhere in my distant past, I was honored as an outstanding trainee in a tank gun training course, and I was twice honored as an outstanding artillery instructor. Neither of these events made me a candidate for IDF chief of staff in the eyes of others, let alone my own.
To lead a political party, one must be more than a good lawmaker or someone who fights for government transparency. Political leaders should have previous experience in leading public systems in local government, the military or other public fields. Despite the adrenaline rush that comes with selecting a new candidate that is fawned over by the media, Labor in its current condition must choose experience if it hopes to restore the public's faith in the party.
Since this election will have far-reaching implications, a candidate should be selected that has shown themselves to be capable of successfully leading large campaigns, knows how to create consensus among party leaders, can contend with difficulty and opposition and is able to make decisions on existential issues. A candidate is needed who has a proven ability to bring new blood to the party and can help oust the current government.
