My Candidates for President of Lebanon

The corrupt political class, all the way down the rotten hierarchy from Michel Aoun, is debating whom among Gebran Bassil, Samir Geagea, or Sleiman Frangiyeh it would like in the presidential palace come this November 1st.

All three names are of either a former warlord (Geagea) with blood on his hands, even as he says he met Jesus in his cell during his 11-year incarceration, or a feudal barbarian allied with Lebanon's enemy number one Syria (Frangiyeh), or a desperate obnoxious nouveau-riche arriviste who has been running on his father-in-law's treasonous coattails (Bassil). These three candidates have been on the political and war scenes for the past three to four decades and have brought nothing to the country except disasters, and suspicious and treasonous alliances with regional and equally barbarian countries like Iran (Bassil), Saudi Arabia (Geagea), and Syria (Frangyieh).

But the Lebanese people are a highly educated bunch. There are hundreds of other much more qualified Lebanese who are worthy of the presidential seat in Baabda. But I am familiar with four who have proved themselves and who hail from a much higher form of life than the bottom-feeders listed above. They have education, experience, and are presentable in appearance, substance, integrity and character. The Lebanese people are tired of the same vintage corrupt candidates, often tagged as being either "strong" in the Mafia lingo of the political class (e.g Aoun, the obstructionist-in-chief), or "consensual" (i.e. so fearful of alienating the feudal barbarians and their militias that he ends up doing their bidding nonetheless). Any one of Frangiyeh, Geagea or Bassil can only sink the country further down its ongoing desperate situation for another decade or two. Instead, Lebanon would be well served with a fresh generation of professional practitioners at the helm. 

Unlike the feudal cronies listed in the first paragraph, the background of the four candidates I am proposing lacks bloodletting, corruption and insidious alliances, and includes expertise in law, jurisprudence, economics, and academia. While Tracy Chamoun's candidacy represents a pioneering step towards placing a woman with qualifications and experience at the helm of the country, her heritage of belonging to a political family unfortunately is a sour note because it counters the desire of the young generation to shed the tradition of genetic transmission of political power that has long afflicted this country.

My candidates are:

Ziyad Baroud

Sami Nader

Paul Morcos

Chebli Mallat