...while many Israelis had deep reservations about Mr Sharon's political ambitions, they were nevertheless reassured that they could count on "Arik" to fight their corner.
The same bond cannot be said to exist between Mr Olmert and the nation he has been elected to serve. It is not just that Mr Olmert's military career was limited to occasional stints as a reporter for the Israeli army's in-house magazine...Mr Olmert is a backroom, career politician who, apart from serving an unconvincing period as Jerusalem's mayor in the 1990s, has risen almost without trace.
By his own admission, Mr Olmert owes his election victory to his close association with Mr Sharon before he was incapacitated by a stroke, but his role then was very much acting as the old general's aide-de-camp, a position that does not normally lead to immediate promotion to commander-in-chief...
...Israelis have mixed feelings about withdrawing their soldiers from any conquered territory, whether it is the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza or southern Lebanon. While they are open to persuasion by redoubtable warlords such as Mr Sharon, they nonetheless entertain the suspicion that any territorial concession is a victory for the terrorists...many Israelis were unpersuaded by the military logic, believing that it was better to dictate events on the ground rather than abandon it to those whose raison d'etre is Israel's destruction.
The abduction of their soldiers in Gaza and southern Lebanon has, if anything, reinforced this view, and Mr Olmert, who was elected on a mandate to complete Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank, now finds himself under pressure to expand, not diminish, Israel's territorial domination.
This is not the brief Mr Olmert sought when he became Prime Minister, nor is it by any means certain that he has the ability to adapt to the challenging predicament in which he now finds himself.
Couldn't have said it better.
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