The state of despair prevailing in Egypt is of course due to deteriorating livelihood conditions, and to the worsening crises of daily life – such as rising prices, scarcity of gas and other fuels, high unemployment rates, in addition of course to the deteriorating situation and crushing crisis of transportation, the spread of garbage and the powerlessness to solve its mystery, not to mention the problems that have become part of Egyptian tradition, such as education and healthcare. And if one were to add to all of this the political conflicts taking place and the rising intensity of the opposition to the President, his party and the group he is affiliated to, the scene would appear frightening and terrifying. And if Egyptians were not convinced by the numbers announced by President Mohamed Morsi regarding his rate of success during the first one hundred days of his presidency, it is because the reality they are experiencing warns them at every moment that the situation is going from bad to worse. Yet what shocks them is the absence of any kind of horizon before them that would herald that solutions are on the way – and what is meant here are true solutions, not the kind which those in power, the president, the party and the group they are affiliated to, seek to promote. On the whole, President Mohamed Morsi will have the opportunity to at least alleviate the state of polarization occurring in the country, if he takes advantage of the ruling that will be issued by the Supreme Administrative Court tomorrow to determine the fate of the Constitutive Assembly in charge of drafting the constitution – whether the verdict is to dissolve the assembly or even if the court has rejected the case, ruled to confirm the composition of the assembly and granted its members the right to draft the articles of the new constitution. It is no secret that the climate surrounding Morsi does not allow him to work under normal circumstances, so as to run the country and lay the foundations for a civil state, or at least to solve some of its citizens' problems – this for well known reasons, among them the heavy burden of the legacy he inherited from the former regime, and the mistakes committed by those around him, from among his advisers and prominent figures of his party and the group it is affiliated to, in addition to the opposition being on the lookout for his mistakes and the state of rejection he faces from some prominent figures and segments of society. Yet the President is required to put forward an initiative, regardless of all of the problems that surround him, one that would reflect unconventional thinking, and would contribute to changing the stereotype that has begun to take shape in the minds of Egyptians about him. Morsi has the opportunity to put forward an initiative that would allow him, after the ruling in the case of the Constitutive Assembly, to restore concord to his society and to gather together those who became fragmented and torn apart then struggled against one another, making Egypt seem as if it were heading towards the danger of the state collapsing even if its institutions remain standing. Indeed, its powerlessness, the poorness of its skills, the fact that it has turned into a mere collection of signs and buildings, and its lack of influence represent the start of its fading away. Some might imagine that it would be in the interest of the President, his party and the group they are affiliated to for the ruling to come out in favor of the Constitutive Assembly, rather than its dissolution. But this is the thinking of those who look forward from a narrow perspective, those who have reduced the power crisis to the behavior of the opposition and have challenged it, or those who flatten things out without regard for the problems surrounding Egypt, its regime of rule, its political forces and its television elites. Indeed, it would be logical for the President to hope for the ruling to be issued to dissolve the Constitutive Assembly, as he in such a case would have the opportunity to be creative, to take the initiative and to display a different kind of behavior, he having granted himself the right to reconstitute it. The ruling to dissolve the Constitutive Assembly would pave the way for the President to absorb the anger of opposition forces and of those who reject him and reject the assembly, as well as to get rid of the headache of secular forces, who assert that they will wage against him and against his party and the group it is affiliated to the battle of the new constitution the moment it is put forward for public referendum, regardless of its articles and of their content, thereby increasing the state of polarization, division and conflict. Morsi can lay out a new composition for the Constitutive Assembly that would represent the entire political spectrum, thereby shaping general consensus over the new constitution. If, on the other hand, the ruling is issued to reject the case and grant the current assembly the right to move forward with its task, the President would also have the responsibility to put pressure on his party and on the group he is affiliated to in order to bring about changes in the composition of the assembly, in such a way as to satisfy members of the opposition, alleviate the tension and achieve consensus. Morsi himself pledged before the second round of the presidential elections to work to recompose the Constitutive Assembly if he wins the presidential seat, before his spokesman came out to clarify that the President does not have the right to interfere with its composition! Everyone knows that harmonization between Morsi, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Muslim Brotherhood is an evident fact, and that it is for such harmonization not to occur that would have been illogical. The problems people face in their daily lives in Egypt require unconventional plans, revolutionary decisions and non-stereotypical behavior. Moreover, political conflict increases pressure on both the President and the people. This too requires presidential initiatives that would go beyond the taboos of conventional thinking in order to manage the conflict between Egypt's political forces and elites. Otherwise, what will come will always be worse, whether for people's lives or for... the future of those in power.
