Unworthy Target

March 14’s best policy for dealing with Michel Aoun is to leave him alone.

Better days

Let’s suppose you’re the leader of a party that advocates the overthrowing of the Seniora Government. Now let’s suppose your advisors gave you three policy options to chose from:

1- You can highlight the corruption of the Future Movement in your media, drum up its quest to “swallow” and “buy” Lebanon and stress its ties with the Saudi Wahabist regime..

2- You can aim to discredit the March 14 movement by relentlessly focusing on the criminal records of Walid Jumblat and Samir Geagea and their warlord/clan mentality…

3- ..Or you can choose to attack the competence and character of Seniora himself and vow to uproot him soon.

Aoun gave his enemies a great gift by choosing number 3.

Why would anyone attack one of the country’s most popular politicians when he could have focused on “worthier” targets that better advance his cause without alienating moderate would-be supporters? The answer is not important. What’s important is that Aoun is shooting himself in the foot and being his own worst enemy.

The March 14 media should seize this oportunity and stop attacking the General. If they keep aiming at him they’ll risk being redundant and counterproductive. People will ask: “why all this focus on Mr. Aoun” and the attacks can backfire. Why assassinate the character of someone who’s assassinating himself?

The best thing the March 14 media can do is to leave Aoun alone (Fares Khashan, Nassir As3ad, Paul Shawul and Ali Hmedeh, I hope you read this) and start focusing on important things, like how to deal with Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. How can we cajole Nabih Berri and bring him to our side? How can we build a less corrupt political machine that can win elections with bigger margins? How can we implement the Taif accord and consolidate the national partnership? How can we weed out corruption in the system?

Politics is a game of chess, not a shouting match. There is a lot to be won by staying away from the cursing fest. I say we stop insulting the oranges. I will start with myself. As of this post, there will be no more giving Michel Aoun any special attention. I hope others will follow.