The Trial of Pharaoh, Seven Thousand Years After, Part II by Jamil Shawwa

Mubarak, until he left, abdicated power, and handed Egypt’s interim ruling to his students, the generals of the Egyptian military, did not have any legacy. He succeeded Anwar El-Sadat, whom, by many accounts, was larger than life, and continued and managed Egypt, taking into account the heritage of the 1952 revolution and Egypt’s regional role including its most important task, the peace with the State of Israel and establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. Moreover, being the most visible and important and effective vehicle of peace to the Arab and Islamic countries. He was resilient, played a pivotal role in aligning the Arab countries against Saddam of Iraq and later on against the terrorist Osama Bin Laden. In the early 2000, and with the arrival of the conservatives, the Republicans, back to power in America, and George W. Bush doctrine, “either with us or against us” after the attacks on America of 09/11/2001, Mubarak new that the game has changed, he knew then, that after him, there will be democracy in Egypt and he knew that the winds of change that cruised all over the world must finally reach him, and his country and eventually will change things. Mubarak knew all along that his son will never rule Egypt, but he played the game until the end and until the signal came that he must leave. Mubarak is a strong, skilled and confident politician, a dictator of course, but not a murderer, not an assassin and not a coward. No one expected Mubarak to have a legacy, to be remembered beyond what I stated above, beyond being the transitional figure that Sadat chose brilliantly to prepare and have Egypt, after him, a democratic place in the Middle East. Few days ago, Mubarak built his legacy and he cemented it in unbreakable concrete and in larger than life iron cast. He ended once and for all the Pharaoh’s image from the brains and the psychics of the Egyptian people. Mubarak in one picture, ended seven thousand years of the rule of the pharaohs, ended the Egyptian slavery to their rulers. Mubarak wanted to stay in Egypt and wanted to be dragged to court and wanted to be pictured in a cage in a court room at the police academy in Cairo. Mubarak looked at the camera and gave the looks of a good man, a man that loves his people, and is doing the ultimate sacrifice for them, to be dragged, the ruler of Egypt, the pharaoh, the dictator, to be tried like any alleged criminal. Mubarak’s legacy to go down like this reminded me of James Cagney in one of those early 20^th century movies” The Public Enemy” when he, Cagney, decided to surrender, and he is the notorious criminal, and in the cell begging for mercy; he died *“Yellow” so the kids in the movie who were looking up to him as an “accomplishment criminal” would stop thinking like that and only think of that Yellow criminal and murderer. Mubarak was like Cagney, except Mubarak will not die Yellow as Cagney in fact did not in that movie; he looked coward, acted yellow, but he was the most courageous. Mubarak did his country the ultimate favor and the ultimate sacrifice. He tossed aside his history, his pride and decided to tell the Egyptians, here I’m the pharaoh, in cage, please take a shot at me. Mubarak is telling the Egyptians that there will never again be a pharaoh ruling Egypt.

* Coward.

Also read part one   http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2011/04/trial-of-pharaoh-seven-thousand-years.html  

Brag, Obama, brag!!! By Jamil Shawwa

In business, experts say,  that you must brag about your successes, you must share your ideas, you must be out there and let people know how good you are, or not, but be there, expand and try and see how it goes. Do not be shy or modest, it does not help. If you are good, then brag about it, and if you believe that you are good, then better, brag more.  In politics and in love, I guess, the same applies, actually, in politics, you need to brag it more and there more urgency to brag and show off. You need to be out more, and  in democracies, bragging is not a choice if you want to survive, bragging is a must,, Modesty in politics does not take you anywhere, or maybe it could take you to a term, or it could give you sympathy, but not much more. Since making history in November of 2008 and becoming the first African American president of the United States, Obama did not set still and accept the honor for itself, just being elected president and making history; he understands that was just the tip of an iceberg and that he needs to do more to cement his legacy in the US history, not just being a coincidence, or a footnote or because America felt guilty and needed to elect a black president. Obama has completed phase one of his task, got elected, he lost part of the midterm elections, had the republicans won the house, but managed to keep the senate under his control, the democrats. Outside the US, he has established America’s supremacy not through regional alliances but through working within world bodies and collective overall win -win situations. He is managing Iraq; stumbling in Afghanistan but in the same time got the worst terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, to the ultimate justice that Bin Laden wrote for himself. Now the game is changing as it always anyway does close to elections date- *George Bush senior did not learn the lesson or he was too bored of politics that Bill Clinton won in 1992, Obama needs to look inward more, and focus on keeping America’s wheels well lubricated and oiled, and the next generations feeling safe and optimistic about the economic future of the United States.  America cannot continue to raise its debt cediling, and cannot function if the time is wasted in just the game of politics rather than in the game of getting solid, measurable, on the ground, actions that the American people can feel. Here is the name of the game if Obama wants to get a second term, and not just being elected by accident, and not for being elected because America felt guilty, or because Bush and the wars screwed up the economy in 2007. He needs to Brag. Brag about what you have done, show the American people your efforts in health care, law now, and talk about Congress, and the maneuvers, brag about lifting the US economy from the near collapse to stability; not success yet, just stability. Obama, Brag your lungs out, do press conferences, go all over America and start from this moment to build a legacy and grassroots movements that on their wings, you will fly to the White House for a second term. Obama needs to look inward moving forward, politics inside, and you must be successful inside, even if you need  to take care of the world, you still must relate it to the average American, otherwise, you need to kiss the second term goodbye, and you need to kiss the legacy another bigger goodbye. Brag Obama, Brag.

*         Other reason to George Bush senior loss is the Ross Perot factor. Google for more information.