Two more responses

Here are two more responses to my dilemma (which, for better or worse, will end this thursday)that I figured I should share. First, comes this response from Beantown from my boy Kevin. He knows me pretty damn well: Crappy spot to be in pal. sorry to see you between a rock and a hard a place. You can see that Egypt is broken and it's gotta be fixed. You have thechance to do something about it. Change is always slow and painful but if the end result is worth it you just grin and bear it.You are unhappy with the current state of your home and you were just put inposition to do something about it. I read a comment on the blog thatmentions how you should think of your children. whoever it was isright. what kind of nation do you want them to call home? what world do you want to give them? Family is important. I know that you are ticked at them but don't go doing something you will regret. your family has been in politics for a while so i'm sure they know all the players. use that knowledge. start getting to know the kids that will take legacy bids like you. find the good ones. the smart, loyal, and dedicated. then tie them to you. surround yourself with people you respect and are willing to listen to and keep open the debate. Ok i gotta admit i hate politics but i can play the game. and you cando it a hell of a lot better. you are smart, social and charming (this is not a come on by the way) and your ability to get in someones head is frightening. so use your skills and be a player. get in the door and then keep your head down. learn, take some grafts, bend some rulesand get to know everyone. start to make friends. be a back alley powerbroker. you can manipulate people so start doing it. you don't have tobe the frontman to make changes. I know you where worried about losing yourself. it's pretty easy todo. that hardest part is finding something to anchor you to yourself.figure out what you want from this post. what can you do? figure outwhat you believe and stick to it. be open to other ideas but make sureyou actually analyze what you are hearing then decided. ok this may be corney but i want to tell you an old story. you prollyheard it it's about the 47 ronin. long story short, a Japanese fuedallord was defeated and killed. his loyal samurai were cast into shame for failing to protect their lord. they should have commited seppuku (ritual suicide), instead they all became honorless men, ronin. welltime passes and these ronin become the dregs of society, drunks,pimps, yakuza enforcers etc. but it's an act. the 47 are actually planning their vengeance upon their lords enemy. finally everything isset and they kill their enemy. then they commit seppuku as samurai. point of the story is that you can let yourself be or endure anything on the outside but you always control who you are. anyway it's your decision but look at what you can do with theposition not just what the position can do to you. well hopefully that wasn't too much of a sermion. i tried not to throwtoo many trite phrases. if you want someone to bounce ideas off you know where i am. good luck kevin ps - besides the sooner you get the job the sooner i can start beingyour body guard ;)

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The second one comes from Iraq, from the mighty ITM bloggers. I e-mailed them as some of you suggested and this is their response: Dear Sam, 1st of all, thanks for your trust and for asking our opinion about such a critical subject. We have both read what you wrote with the utmost care and interest (this is Omar speaking btw) and we discussed the case for quite a while and I can say that we reached the decision to ask you to abandon the idea of running to office. Yes, I would ally myself with the devil to help my country but that would never be the same devil that detroyed(and still destroying) my country. And saying that "You know that you can't beat them, so you might as well join them..." is not what a smart and brave person like yourself is expected to say' no one expected that Saddam could be overthrown and it was more than a fantasy to think of that but it HAPPENED and it will happen for other tyrants, maybe not in the same way but certainly it can happen. If you really want to do your family good, reject the idea and keep the faith in your case. That's what we think and now it's up to you to decide what's best for you. Stay safe, Omar