I believe it is "The Barbary States" because I think Britain got attacked by them as well and I'm sure it was not Germany because I never heard of pirates attacking or coming from Germany.
Please let me know if I am wrong.
a) They are elected by popular vote for 6 years
The role of the president "to lead the country" is very important.
Without a leader, we would be divided, and "united we stand, divided we fall"
its a simple as that, without a leader, we would be a lot more divided than we are now and without the president, well, there might be chaos
hope this helps