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Kibinimat. That was the word MK Erel Margalit used in a video in April when launching his campaign for the Labor Party chairmanship. It was a Russian curse word, loosely translated as “damn it” or “go to hell.”In the video and subsequent campaign events, Margalit yelled and cursed, and his campaign staff printed posters, pamphlets and flyers to that effect.But on Tuesday, despite running the longest and most expensive campaign, Margalit finished in fourth place, behind Amir Peretz, Avi Gabbay and the party’s ousted leader, Isaac Herzog.His showing proved that vulgarity and yelling will only get you so far in Israeli elections. Curse words will prop you up, give you 15 minutes of fame, but it ends there. People might enjoy the smear campaign as entertainment, but they won’t vote for it.Margalit’s advisers will tell you that his campaign succeeded in raising his public profile. I disagree. He might be more “well-known” today, but not in a positive way. He is simply remembered for yelling and cursing, not for the ambitious and strategic economic and security plans I have seen him craft for this country.Margalit is impressive, a successful businessman who has created more jobs in the periphery as a hi-tech entrepreneur and multimillionaire than most government ministers. He was a combat soldier in Lebanon, and has a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University.He is polished, articulate, refined and smart. But he chose wrong. His campaign was off.While his showing in the primary is disappointing for Margalit, it is a good thing for the country. It shows that the election discourse in Israel has not yet deteriorated to the level of what is happening in some other places around the world.It is possible that this will still change, but for the time being, at least in the Labor Party, voters showed that they prefer candidates who gave them a vision of “what yes,” and not one of “what no.”They chose a vision of optimism over one of pessimism. Let’s hope that continues.