Electing a president will solve most of the problems

[ecce homo]

Originally Posted by vegojimbo

Since 2005, the main argument the 14 feb camp has been using to pinpoint the cause of all the problems that have been plaguing the country was the emptinesss of presidency seat. Even when Emile Lahoud was still president, the loyalists didn't acknowledge his existence (except when their interests dictated it) and kept on stating that the chair in baabda was empty. Emile Lahoud left and the focus on the empty chair being the source of all the problems intensified to the point that they claimed that once a new president is elected, all obstacles would cease to exist and life would go back to normal. The opposition on the other hand stated that the empty chair was merely a symptom and not the cause. Electing a president would not magically erase all differences and problems bc the solution must come through dealing with the real causes of the crisis rather than one symptom. And the 2 diverging views battled it out for years.

Let's mention these problems that some claimed to be solved once a new president is elected:

- the security will improve and clashes will cease to appear every now and then

- relations with our neighbors will go back to normal

- the christians will get their rights back and will be represented fairly

- the economy will boom

- the 2 battling sides will be closer and the hatred among them will decrease

- tourism will improve

- bombings and assassinations will stop

- the gov's decisions will not be blocked (referring to Lahoud's era)

- life of the average lebanese citizen will improve.


Now that a new president has been elected, and seeing clashes happening on a daily basis, our relations with our neighborly countries are still sour, economy and tourism still limping (despite reservations and number of flights booked for the summer having increased), hatred among the different factions at its peak, bombings still around, no new government, life of the lebanese citizen still below average, emigration on the rise, corruption alive and kicking, accusations and fear mongering still in effect, do u still believe electing a new president would have solved anything? And ultimately which argument turned out to be correct: "the vacancy in the presidency chair is the source of the problems, electing a president will automatically solve most of our issues" or "the vacancy is merely a symptom, electing a president without prior agreement on various subjects will not change anything"?

Didn't the International Tribunal solve all those issues already? That's what they used to say, then after the IT there was the president what next? If they win the 2009 election then they will solve all of the issues above? I guess that they can continue like this as long as there are people who believe in them.

[DITOU]

Before electing a president we had no president and a fantomatic illigal corrupt government , the country was in a bad situation ........very bad situation .......they blamed it on the faragh el riassi ...

Now we have a president , no government with the same corrupt appointed prime minister , the country is drawning in chaos and facing the worst kind of terrorism era .

After Taef the president is nothing but an image with no real powers . electing a president was not the root of the problem ....

The real problem reside in the immorality and perversion of the corrupt rulers: the PM and all his sponsors .

Security , Economy, Social problems, .... will be solved as soon as we uproot the real problem : corruption and its ilk.

[DITOU]

Originally Posted by Lemon

I would switch the question the other way around: has electing the president caused things to become worse? It's of course true that simply electing a president will not magically solve all the problems, but was that a valid reason to maintain the vacuum for half a year?

Is it a reason today to keep the country without a proper national unity government ? what is their reason today ? dont you think today the loyalistes are playing the same kind of vaccum but this time it is more dangerous . All the national establishements are paralised is that not the "worse" vaccuum ?

[Lemon]

Originally Posted by DITOU

Is it a reason today to keep the country without a proper national unity government ? what is their reason today ? dont you think today the loyalistes are playing the same kind of vaccum but this time it is more dangerous . All the national establishements are paralised is that not the "worse" vaccuum ?

The national establishments were just as paralysed before, minus presidency. I don't see any difference.

[vegojimbo]

Originally Posted by Lemon

I would switch the question the other way around: has electing the president caused things to become worse? It's of course true that simply electing a president will not magically solve all the problems, but was that a valid reason to maintain the vacuum for half a year?

The topic is pretty clear and straightforward. Some were claiming that electing a president will solve all the problems, while others stated that the vacuum was merely a symptom and not the cause of the political crisis. Who turned out to be right?

As for ur question, what difference did it make to elect a president? Anything changed now that MS is president? any issue solved? is trust among the battling sides reappearing? is MS actually doing something? or is the mere fact of filling a chair to be applauded?

Originally Posted by Lemon

The national establishments were just as paralysed before, minus presidency. I don't see any difference.

Exactly. So filling the presidency chair didn't solve a thing. Now having the presidency paralyzed or not, does it make any difference? Since it's pretty clear that the president has no real powers nor any influence and is there just to sit on the chair, literally, what has his election brought us?

[Lemon]

Originally Posted by vegojimbo

The topic is pretty clear and straightforward. Some were claiming that electing a president will solve all the problems, while others stated that the vacuum was merely a symptom and not the cause of the political crisis. Who turned out to be right?

Propaganda from both sides turned out to be wrong.

Originally Posted by vegojimbo

As for ur question, what difference did it make to elect a president? Anything changed now that MS is president? any issue solved? is trust among the battling sides reappearing? is MS actually doing something? or is the mere fact of filling a chair to be applauded?

Yes, filling the chair is to be applauded because the issue of who gets the chair is at least now behind you. As a consequence also the issue of the status of the current Siniora cabinet was harmonized: before the election, the majority would claim that the cabinet was perfectly legal while the opposition would say that it's illegitimate because the Shia ministers resigned. Now both sides must agree that it's considered resigned as per constitution. While you don't see money raining down from the sky or candy canes popping out of the ground, at least two contentious political issues have been resolved and in my eyes that's progress even if much more important issues such as Hezbollah weapons, forming the new government and the election law are still up in the air.

[punkgirlie16]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Bachir is one of the prime examples why electing a president is just not enough to solve problems.

Originally Posted by Bejin

Bachir was the solution and they killed him because he was the solution to our problems

Same for Aoun, they opposed to his election because he was the solution to our problems

but we will win!!!

what planet are u livin on?

did he object id card killings?

not that his murderers weren't a disgusting bunch of, yes, traitors.

[Bejin]

Originally Posted by punkgirlie16

what planet are u livin on?

did he object id card killings?

not that his murderers weren't a disgusting bunch of, yes, traitors.

girl, go ask your father who defended Lebanon, the Lebanese in general and the christians in particular and then back to me.

[LFjounieh]

Originally Posted by Bejin

girl, go ask your father who defended Lebanon, the Lebanese in general and the christians in particular and then back to me.

People who have this kind of attitude have it because of their parents, they are born and raised into these types of thoughts. You cannot blame her, only her parents.

[Shuyu3i]

Electing a president is ofcourse better than before. The situation on the ground is not the fault of the president but the fault of the different parties in lebanon. They are all stupid and they will never learn.