Last week I wrote a long post about Noam Shalit (Schalit) joining politics, but in the end I decided not to publish it. The reason was that despite my nagging feeling that Shalit was doing something wrong by joining politics so soon after the prisoner (or Kidnapping-Prisoner) swap that released his son - I couldn't shake off my other feeling which is that any person is entitled to run for office.
This week another story made the news which has helped me clarify my thoughts. It was widely reported that Yair Lapid had consulted with Ehud Olmert before deciding to launch his own political career. As can be expected, numerous commentators jumped at this and accused Lapid of a low morality due to his association with Olmert. My problem was - Is it not legitimate to ask advice from Olmert even if he was infact crooked? Surely even with a tainted past, no one would deny he has expertise that Lapid might need. Lapid didn't give him any official position - he merely asked for some advice!
Both of these stories revolve around the same thought. In both cases the act isn't really wrong - it merely looks bad in public. However politics is not the realm of the reasonable!
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