Hurricane Sandy for President

"Stranded" here in the Czech Republic has forced me to watch all the Hurricane updates from overseas. What a tease.  The biggest hurricane that hits the Northeast in 100 years, and I'm in Prague. I can't say I'm disappointed though, because unlike many of my family and friends, last night I had electricity and wasn't concerned about my safety.  I was too busy thinking about the safety of others though, friends, family, loved ones, etc.  Now that the storm has passed, I am glad to say that everything at home is okay, but watching the news feed last night as an outsider really shocked me.  I saw everything LIVE online, as it was happening.  What a different experience it has on me, not being present for the storm.  I did have my own storm here in Prague though, on Saturday, October 27th.  There was quite a lot of snow that coated Prague, my host community, and those around.  But hey, I can't complain about it, because what happened to the Northeast this week will go down in history books.

The view outside my window Saturday morning. SNOW!

Today in class, we had a very interesting lecture/debate about the election coming up in the Czech Republic and in the United States.  There were two representatives from the Czech campaign, who are assistants to the candidates, who came to our classroom to give an informal discussion about the election history and the views of their candidate.  The two candidates for president mentioned in today's discussion were: Jiří Dienstbier and Karel Schwarzenberg. It was a very interesting discussion today, because the politics and government here in the Czech Republic are very different from that of the U.S.

Since it is election season both here and in the U.S., here are some notes on what I learned today (skip to the bottom of the page if you're not interested in the political bulls**t):

• Eligibility for President: at least 40 years old, Czech citizen, participate in a 5 year term
• Election/Voting details:
• Direct vote/majority vote
• Two-round runoff voting
• New law of election passed in July 2012
• Election days are January 11th-12th this year
• Candidates register 66 days before election
• Candidates need 50,000 signatures in order to be a valid candidate (unless nominated by their party platform)
• Czech Constitution details:
• The president does not hold executive power like the U.S. president does
• Strong role in foreign policy
• Ratification process can only happen through the president
• The president does not have the role to be a "free leader of the world"
• Problems with the election and process:
• This is the FIRST time that the Czech public is directly voting for their president. Previous presidents have been appointed by the Parliament or the Communist regime. Therefore, it is hard to foresee how the election will go
• People are confused as to how the president will be represented (i.e. will he have a role in domestic policies, environment, negotiations, attending certain conferences, signing different documentation, etc.)
• This year, there is approximately 10 candidates who will run for president in the first round, all who have the mandatory requirements to run
• There is confusion in the public as to what each political party stands for
• Media plays a majorly low role in the campaign and events after the president is elected, which is unfortunate because the communication between media and the government is weaker
• Since it is the first time for a direct vote of the public, this may bring more instability to the government system
• National identity is unclear when it comes to the presidents opinion and the public vote

So, without further due, the title of my blog post Hurricane Sandy for President.  I was in a very political mood after everything that has happened today, and it made me question both campaigns (in the C.R. and the U.S.). First, the campaigns will definitely be put on hold in order to recover the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  I think it is a very responsible decision of Obama to focus on that, because he is still president of our country and needs to attend to the need of the Northeastern region.  With all the talk about Hurricane Sandy, politicians in the C.R. are also aware of the situation in the U.S., commenting and forcing candidates to talk about the issue as well.  So as a result, Hurricane Sandy really is the talk of the country, especially with elections and campaigns going on.

Well, thanks for reading, and if you're reading this, I assume that you Northeasterners have power back. Here is a photo of me and my friend John Cody from this past weekend. He's a great guy, working and traveling across Europe since he graduated this year from PC. 

P.S. Ahoj is pronounced "ah-hoy" like the sailors say. NOT "a-hoe".... mom. Haha

Me and John in Namesti Miru. Notice the snow. Haha.