Enter Tzipi Livni, stage center-left

Now could be the best time yet to buy stocks in Kadima. The arc of Israeli politics is long, but it may just bend toward Livni. As foreign minister she guided Israel through the renewal of the peace process, and as head of Israel's largest party won the most seats in the election, before her hopes of becoming PM were dashed by the Likud-led right-wing bloc. She also displayed an admirable distaste for the horse-trading of Israeli politics when as victor of the Kadima primaries she rejected compromising coalition deals and opted for a general election she had no guarantee of winning, but technically did. In Washington, Bibi and Obama's words were as congenial as can be expected when Israeli and American heads of state meet, but this was no Clinton and Rabin. This could be how Netanyahu's second spin as PM plays out - not as an unprecedented collision with the United States that rattles the "special relationship," but rather a lukewarm second helping bereft of shouting matches between Rahm Emmanuel and Uzi Arad or embraces on the White House lawn. Bibi's career was to promote himself and resuscitate Likud. His ambition was to be prime minister, and now that he has achieved that, he has nothing to say and nowhere to go, and faces the unenviable fate of facing an American president of seemingly boundless ambition whose work has only begun. Livni has proven that she has some principles, and, unlike the rest of the big parties, is not part of this sinking ship. It could be as little as six months and she's back, this time in the Prime Minister's office