Tzipi Livni, Israel's Imminent New Prime Minister

Speaking to The New York Times' Roger Cohen in 2007, who had called her a disciplined person: Tzipi Livni said: "I don’t like this phrase, a disciplined person. I don’t know. I don’t know. [...] There are other parts of me that are different. I prefer jeans to a suit, sneakers to high heels, markets to malls. You’ve just returned from Paris: I prefer the Quartier Latin to the Champs Elysées. In general, I don’t like formality at all. It is just part of what I do. You know, when I was young, I went to the Sinai and worked as a waitress."

It's a matter of time before Israel's Tzipi Livni, who was elected leader of the center-right Kadima party and will be forming a new government in the next few days, is compared to Sarah Palin: The mom angle, the brash candor, the looks, even the inexperience, although relatively speaking an inexperienced politician, Livni among them, could easily run circles around whoever chairs the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate or the House.

From what's known about Livni, a comparison to Palin would also likely infuriate her, a single-minded seriousness about existential matters of life and death being at the center of Livni's world view (as opposed to, say, the creationist pipelines to nowhere that tend to frame what there is of Palin's world view).

Livin was lead negotiator in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, a role she intends to keep. She believes in a two-state solution as the only means of preserving Israel’s Jewish character. She favors pulling Israel out of Gaza and the West Bank, but opposes Palestinian refugees’ right of return to Israel proper.

Once Livni forms a new government, she will be only the second female prime minister of Israel (Golda Meir was the first, 1969 to 1974). But her tenure is likely to be short-lived. If an election were held today, the far-right Likud'd Benjamin Netanyahu would win. With that in mind, Netenyahu, who was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, immediately bared his famous rhetorical fangs: "The cleanest, fairest, most just thing to do now is to go to general elections," he said. "Millions of Israeli citizens should have the opportunity to choose who will lead them, it should not be left up to registered Kadima voters alone. The people should decide who will lead them. Anyone who fears the people's choice is not fit to lead."

Of course, no one said they fear the people's choice, though more than a few people, in Israel and elsewhere, would have more reason to fear an Israel led by Netenyahu than one led by Livni.

Here's a complete, new profile of Tzipi Livni.