Yushchenko Gives Yatseniuk the Poisoned Chalice
April 11, 2009 – 6:50 pmFor Ukraine group leader Vyacheslav Kyrylenko told Channel 5 television on April 10 that Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has chosen former Parliament Speaker Arseniy Yatseniuk as his successor. It remains unclear if Yatseniuk has gotten round to sending a ‘Thank You’ to the president for his endorsement.
This reminds me of the U.S. elections but not in he same way as Ukrainian diaspora Mychailo Wynnyckyj (Kyiv Post, March 19) and Roman Olearchyk (Financial Times, April 6) have wrongly described Yatseniuk as Ukraine’s new Obama. In the US presidential elections the U.S. Saturday Night Live television show used comedians to depict President George Bush, Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin (http://www.bestofyoutube.com/story.php?title=5019054). The best episode is when the actor playing McCain is seen to be extremely unhappy at receiving the actor Bush’s endorsement because of the real Bush’s low popularity of 20 percent.
Now think of Ukraine where the real President Yushchenko has only 3 percent support and gives his endorsement to Yatseniuk who must be as thrilled to receive it as the actor playing candidate McCain in Saturday Night Live.
How can Yatseniuk claim to be a ‘candidate of change’ if he is Yushchenko’s chosen successor? This is where Wynnyckyj and Olearchyk have typically as the romantic Ukrainian dispora gotten their analysis wrong as Obama was an outsider to the Democratic Party which initially backed Hilary Clinton. Since when has Yatseniuk ever been an outsider?
Yushchenko and Baloga see Yatseniuk and Viktor Yanukovych as two candidates who can halt the election of Yulia Tymoshenko and indeed the entire Yushchenko-Baloga strategy can be called “Halt Yulia!” What Yatseniuk has yet to come to terms with is that if he wants to receive Yushchenko-Baloga’s administrative resource support it means that he cannot act like Obama did in the US elections. Like Obama, Yatseniuk has sought to act positively and not get drawn into negative campaigning. This has assisted Yatseniuk who, while hardly saying a word, has risen in the polls while support for Yushchenko, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko have declined.
Will Yatseniuk agree to become involved in the presidents strategy of negative campaigning against Tymoshenko in exchange for their support? If he does agree then he has no right to be compared to Obama and he can expect that voters will punish him as they have those in power. During the Ukrainian elections Yatseniuk will have to take a stance, for a change.
In Saturday Night Live the actor playing Bush says “When you go into the voting booth and vote for McCain” think of me as he points to his face. In the voting booths in October Ukrainian voters should likewise think of Yushchenko’s face and then vote for Yatseniuk.
12 Responses to “Yushchenko Gives Yatseniuk the Poisoned Chalice”
On my opinion, despite of strong differences in political opinions and maybe personal intentions to be “the candidates in presidents” – both Yatseniuk, Grytsenko and Tyahnybok are playing into the hands of the Yushchenko-Baloga-Firtash’s sacred dream – to steal votes from Yu.Tymoshenko and unite with “regionals” in order to divide Ukraine in “zones of influence”. This is the reason why I can’t consider as democrats neither Yatseniuk nor Grytsenko (Tyahnybok is “honest” – he never supported democracy).
Let’s return to 2004. From dozens of candidates maybe it was Tymoshenko only who refused to nominate herself for Yushchenko’s good in order to gain the votes for the victory of democracy (more over, I think she much better did knew “real Yushchenko”). Even despite of unfair Yushchenko’s behavior in 2005 she called his party for honest “parallel” campaign in parliament elections. But… I pretty good remember how the most part of “NUNS” instead of agitation for democracy in the East and South of Ukraine made all possible in Western Ukraine in order to lower Tymoshenko’s rating. Also I remember as it was nobody else but Yushchenko who interrupted the signing of the first democratic coalition from the first day after elections (even Bezsmertny signed it) – as a result Moroz’s socialists later united with regionals and communists. The same Yushchenko’s behavior repeated in 2007, 2008, now…
And when after these acts of Yushchenko’s betrayal of Maidan most of our Ukrainian “journalists” and “politologists” continue either to consider him “democrat”, “patriot” or build the public opinion on making equal sign between Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, Yanukovich – “all are bad”, “let’s vote for new politics” – it’s nothing else but parasitic serving for their masters who’s wealth is possible only under the conditions of conservation of corrupted pseudodemocratic society.
By Yuri_D on Apr 12, 2009
Let me give just one remark, Taras. Even without any negative campaigning, Mr. Yatseniuk will surely “steal” a lot of voters from Mrs. Tymoshenko as thousands of people are identifying him as a kind of ‘new face in Ukrainian politics’ (which is, frankly speaking, not true). So, as you’ve mentioned, without saying a word, he will work effectively in the electoral field of Yulia Tymoshenko.
By Tetyana Vysotska on Apr 13, 2009
Tetyana, Yatseniuk cannot stay silent in an election. He can only do this before the campaign. Ho can you run an election campaign silently!??? Yatseniuk has to compete with Tymoshenko for the orange vote and this competition will be harsh. The only way around this is for a) Yatseniuk to retain his positive campaigning image (like Obama) and not get dragged by Baloga-Yushchenko into a “Stop Tymoshenko!” campaign or b) he does a deal (like Tomenko argues) with Tymoshenko that they divide the presidency and government between them depending on who gets to the second round. They agree, for example, that if Tymoshenko gets to the second round and wins she will appoint Yatseniuk prime minister or if Yatseniuk gets through and wins he will appoint Tymoshenko prime minister.
I can see maybe some optimism if Ukraine after the presidential elections had the following:
President Tymoshenko
Prime Minister Yatseniuk
Speaker Lytvyn
Foreign Minister Nemyria
National Security and Defence Council secretary Grytsenko
By Taras Kuzio on Apr 13, 2009
Well Taras, now that Yushchenko has officially declared that he will run in the next election, perhaps you will learn not to write “authoritatively” based on hearsay. Admitedly his effort will be futile, but that is not the point. The point is that by writing propagandist pieces like the above, you demean the academic profession.
Furthermore, your attacks on Roman Olearchyk and myself for being “diaspora Ukrainian” (for some reason you find that term demeaning – does this reflect a personal complex?) are totally out of place. We both live in Ukraine!!! I don’t mean to diminish the value of your comments from across the Atlantic, but let’s be clear on who is diaspora, and who is a local. Just to illustrate my point: I don’t have regular access to SNL wheres you do. You don’t have regular access to Ukrainian Parliamentary deputies, but I do. Given geography, instead of making “authoritative” statements based on hearsay, perhaps you should be asking questions of people on the ground. That’s the method of a real academic. Or is that not really your profession?
By Mychailo Wynnyckyj on Apr 17, 2009
When I talk of “diaspora” I do not refer to geography. I refer to a state of mind. You can live in Ukraine and nevertheless still hold a romantic diaspora state of mind about developments. For Wynnyckyj and Olearchyk, Yatseniuk is what Yushchenko was in 2004: a romantic saviour for Ukraine.
We need to move on from seeing presidential candidates as messiah’s and see them for what they are: all shades of grey, self motivated and with big ego’s.
By Taras Kuzio on Apr 17, 2009
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By elmer on May 7, 2009