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Presidential Rounds

19 January, 00:00

If you have nothing to say you can always sing. This is painfully true of the President's New Year's message to the nation. The dull rendition kept in a provincial melodramatic vein must have been the result of either too many visits to children's morning gatherings or an attempt to match UT-1 host Hryhory Kozakov.

The crooning tone was obviously rehearsed to make up for the absence of straight answers to the obvious straight questions: How have we spent the old year? What have we achieved? Where did we go wrong? How shall we live? The President was absolutely right when he said that "on such occasions... we can rise high above the quick current of daily routine and perceive yet another life cycle..." Well, this cycle was made entirely of critical days. Mr. Kuchma must have been aware of this, for he thanked the people, adding (was there a note of surprise in his voice?): "You have not lost optimism..." Then he called on one and all to "live and work better," meaning, of course, that we should work hard today and live better tomorrow. Apparently he was implying that there was no way our pay arrears could be redeemed in the near future. Although not a word was said about the debt the state owed to the people or about transgressions of citizens' basic constitutional rights, one could discern an objective explanation: "One does not select one's native land. One just loves it from one's cradle." After mentioning "epochal landmarks," "planetary scope," and "the hard task of asserting oneself in this tempestuous world," the President declared that various events show "who and what is equal to the difficult circumstances." Actually, one could interpret this as a self-critical approach, albeit in a very roundabout way.

"I believe in you, esteemed fellow citizens," said the President. It would be interesting if someone answered, "So do we."

Newspaper output №:

№1, (1999)

Section

Day After Day