The Jockeying Has Begun

Political rhetoric flies sky-high as the battle for the presidency begins.

The coveted prize..

Listening to the politicians’ speeches yesterday (videos: Jumblat’s speech, Jemayel’s ) one would get the impression that an inaudible Sunday gunshot triggered the fierce race for the Lebanese Presidency.

In the old days, things were simpler. A dictator (Syria) dictated its commandments and Lebanese Presidents were immediately rubber stamped. If one were to squeeze through the loopholes (like René Mouawad), he would be summarily executed.

Nice and easy. It gave us the chance to blame someone else for our problems. In fact, we always bragged that if Lebanon were “allowed” to rule itself, none of our problems would have happened.

Not so fast. Lebanon, it turned out, is not so homogeneous. We seem evenly divided between two different kinds of freedom fighters. The only freedom we both want is freedom from each other.

Some think one side can eventually “win”. Some, like Patriarch Sfeir have taken the road of “politician bad, soldier good”. But Some still believe a compromise can be reached. That should happen soon, loud bargaining notwithstanding, because some are beginning to long for the simpler old days..