ET TU, EHUD?:

Bush Will Work To Bolster Olmert (ORI NIR, January 13, 2006, The Forward)

[Ehud] Olmert, who is favored to lead Sharon's newly formed Kadima party in the upcoming March 28 elections, was a major supporter of the plan and has spoken about the need for Israel to withdraw from parts of the West Bank. In sharp contrast, Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu ended up opposing the Gaza pullout and has come out against further unilateral withdrawals.

"It's very simple: The administration doesn't want trouble. It fears that with Netanyahu in power it will get confrontation and trouble. Less so with Olmert," said Meyrav Wurmser, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank.

"That is why you'll see a very forgiving American policy toward Olmert, even if he reacts harshly to Palestinian violence," Wurmser said. "If terrorism runs amok in the three months leading to the Knesset elections, the administration knows that it may get Netanyahu as prime minister rather than Olmert. That is not the continuity to Sharon that America is seeking."