Lebanon Picks A President

On the eve of the US presidential elections, we might well envy the state of affairs that existed in Lebanon – being free of an open campaign for president for over two and a half years.  Granted, there was a downside to all this, namely, Lebanon was without a president during the same length of time.   But, given the options, one might ask, would that be so bad?  (I recall an essay written by Alexander Cockburn declaring just-deceased Gerald Ford the best president the US of the post-War era.  The reason:   Ford did the least harm both at home and abroad.)

Of course, the idea of an inconclusive US election is, frightening.  If nothing else (armed right wing militias, a completely disabled Congress, a structurally divided Supreme Court), imagine the unending bile spewing from every pore of the orange-hued one’s body until final judgement is rendered. Or, would that be Final Judgement?

It would be disingenuous to say that that time Lebanon spent without a head of state passed quietly.   Left to legislators, the government became almost completely dysfunctional, unable of even managing basic services like garbage collection.  There were mass protests, and in response, there was some thuggery and more  that bore terrible results.

In the end, a deal was brokered by which the two major, seemingly irreconcilable poles of Lebanese politics, the so-called March 8th and March 14th Alliances, agreed to share power.  March 8’s Michael Aoun becoming president, and March 14th’s Saad Hariri, has been charged with forming a government as prime minister.   If either character bore any resemblance to an honorable man, rejoicing would be in order.  Instead, there is resignation, though, also, perhaps, relief.

Remarkably, Lebanon has managed to keep things together despite spillover from the horror show next door in Syria, the million Syrian refugees now in the country, frequent provocations from the Israelis, the threat of ISIS, and manipulations from a host of regional and global actors.  And, if one closes his/her eyes really tight and whirls like a dervish, one might even imagine that,  for a time at least, Lebanese politicians could have an interest in working together toward dealing constructively with some of the country’s grave problems.

Inshallah.