Egypt's turn

It seems that the great pharaoh of Egypt, Mubarak, decided to wait till i was out of the country to deliver what is probably one of the most unexpected announcments this election year: He wants people to actually run against him. President Hosni Mubarak's call for Egypt's people to elect their head of state from a list of candidates has delivered a "democratic electric shock" to the country that he has ruled for four straight terms. His proposal in a speech on Saturday for parliament to pass a constitutional amendment to allow multi-candidate direct presidential polls took Egyptians by surprise, not least because it was kept under wraps until the last minute. Let me explain. In order to run for president in egypt, two-thirds of the parliment has to approve of you. Since its majorly Mubarak's people, no one ever had a chance to even run against him. Now, if this goes through, they can. The funniest part for me was the audience reaction to the announcment The audience of elected officials in his home region of Manufieh, in northern Egypt, were so taken aback that they hesitated before bursting into applause for the presidential initiative. I bet in their mind they were like :"Should we applaud? would he regard it as applauding a chance to get rid of him? But if we don't applause we would disrespect him. ####, what am i gonna do? i will just applaud and hope for the best!" Mubarak's announcement, welcomed by the opposition as a first step, comes amid US pressure on Egypt to accelerate democratic reform and follows months of unprecedented protests against Mubarak being elected to a fifth six-year term. Yeah, no ####. everyone has had enough of him, you know? Let's just hope if this goes through no Bullshit takes place in the voting polls. Washington has "urged Egypt to broaden the base of political participation", said State Department spokesman Steven Pike. "This appears to be a step in the direction of a more open political system and we welcome it." US President George W. Bush, at the start of February, issued a rare rebuke to Cairo, one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East, urging the Mubarak government to quicken democratic reforms."The great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East," he added in his State of the Union address. This wouldn't have happened with any other president. If Al Gore or JFK2 had won, there would be no pressure on Egypt to reform at all. But thanks to G. Dub's steely resolve and him showing that puts his money where his mouth is, things are changing in the middle- east and in the country. I repeat, this wouldn't even happen if it was anyone else in the chair of the american presidency. And people over here wonder why i like and support G.W.Bush. sigh