Here's the final installment of the final Aspen-based edition of The Table. This part of the discussion dealt mainly with the complicated relationship between Israeli leaders and American philanthropists. Ari Shavit, who has been a fierce critic of the current prime minister (check out his March Ha'aretz column "The Man Without Substance"), nonetheless provided some context for Olmert's alleged lapse of judgment. 

The problem, Shavit explained, is that wealthy American Jews, while doing much good for Israel at large, are in the habit of adopting Israeli war heroes as "pets." The Israelis, in turn, find it hard to resist the lure of American power. The result is an unnatural intimacy that distorts the natural covenant (Shavit used the Biblical term brit) between the two Jewish communities. 

Of course, Jeff also acknowledges that there's a certain opportunistic element underlying the prime minister's dovishness, related to his recent corruption charges. "When he's indicted," Jeff deadpans, "he's going to be giving Tel Aviv to Dubai."

In our last Aspen-based edition of The Table, Atlantic editor James Bennet talks with Jeffrey Goldberg and Israeli journalist Ari Shavit about Israel's media, Olmert's intentions, and the future state of Middle East diplomacy. In this first segment, Shavit and Goldberg explain why big ideas are so crucial for Israel's survival. As Goldberg puts it, Israelis go through their daily lives -- waking up, going to work, taking the bus -- while essentially living inside one big idea.

Whatever one's take on John Yoo (he contributed to the PATRIOT Act and staunchly opposes habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees), it's fascinating to hear him describe the complicated dance that goes on between Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President. His joke about Justice O'Connor speaks volumes in and of itself.

There were several interesting questions from the crowd, but this one seemed especially worth posting, since it features Fred Malek, a national finance committee co-chair for John McCain and previously an assistant to George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon. For those of you who find Malek's name eerily familiar but can't place it, he's famous for an incident involving the Bureau of Labor Statistics that took place during his Nixon years (although he's gone to great lengths to apologize and move on). In any case, he's had plenty of experience with party politics, so he was able to jump right into the discussion at hand.