Whoever wrote that speech has a great sense of humor and balance.
Lutsenko: Dear friends, a major goal of the new leadership of United Fatherland is to learn to hear people, party members and independents. The invincible power of Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko was that she, like all the other politicians, had to borrow money from the oligarchs yet she would hear the voters only, and not her campaign contributors. We have to learn from this and bring that spirit back to Fatherland and to the opposition as a whole. [round of applause]
6:36-7:06
If Tymoshenko heard her voters so well, why didn’t they vote for her? And does the All-Hearing Crowdsourcer know you raid his closet? Here comes the harsh part. Take your time to observe the VIP body language and that of the audience at large.
Lutsenko: Dear friends, I have friends among Fatherland’s leadership, it is you address: In order to be honest and talk about moral revolution and, by extension, political revolution, get rid of the turncoat generator within the party. [round of applause] Dear friends, we all, including yours truly, need to get rid of, discard, the practice of masquerade politics whereby it seems that it’s enough just to say “I’m not Yanukovych!” and, conceivably, support will be guaranteed. We should stop harboring Potemkin designs in politics. People see the falsehood and fiction behind these things and that’s why millions won’t take to the streets. Let’s be honest about it and start acting in new ways, like Tymoshenko did when Ukraine was winning.
7:10-8:01
When was the last time Tymoshenko acted in new ways?
The Coalition of Impunity and Deprival? Not now, maybe later.
On the Orthodox holiday of Trinity, on a hot but rainy Sunday, the two appear to have scrapped their plans and gone their separate ways.
Yanukovych delivered his stump speech in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of Ukraine’s oldest and largest Orthodox shrines, controlled by the Moscow Patriarchate.
Alas, the prodigal son of Ukrainian democracy came to worship direct presidential elections, but confessed no sins. He merely admitted that gutting the Constitution with the amendments he and Tymoshenko had proposed would have been a step back from democracy. The people should have been consulted, he said, as if reprimanding himself. Interestingly, he spoke like a robot, in a manner that betrayed the dirty little piece of equipment supposedly stashed in one of his ears.
A few hours after this throw-momma-from-the-train maneuver, Tymoshenko made her own televised stump speech.
In announcing her bid for the presidency, she accused Yanukovych of unilaterally pulling out of the coalition talks. To dilute responsibility and distance herself from the coalition’s undemocratic slant, she raised the number of would-be coalition partners to four: the Party of Regions, BYuT, NUNS, and the Lytvyn Bloc.
She vehemently denied seeking undemocratic Constitutional amendments. Moreover, she even blamed Yanukovych’s pullout on what she described as her refusal to his proposed Constitutional amendment to raise the presidential candidates’ age to 50. In other words, she’s just an innocent girl who wants the best for her country.
One may argue that, in this parade of disappearing acts and stump speeches, Yanukovych (sugar daddy) dumped Tymoshenko (material/anti-crisis girl). She got what she deserved. I hope he gets what he deserves, too.
Everyone was doing their job. She struggled to rekindle her Joan of Arc image and equip it with Mary Poppins features; he masqueraded as Dr. Democracy with the heart of Santa Claus. They both spoke to fifth-graders, which is how they view their voters.
P.S. A friend sent me this uncut version of Tymo’s stump speech (intro). She's very nervous. She switches back and forth from Ukrainian to Russian.
Tymoshenko, speaking Ukr: Thank you all for coming on such short notice on a holiday. [takes deep breath] God help me. [crosses herself, closes eyes, clears throat]
Tymoshenko, speaking Ukr: My darlings, first of all, let me greet you with the bright holiday of the Holy Trinity… [discovers her sweet Ukrainian voice]
Ironically, the Russian expression “пропало все!” can also be translated as “it’s over!” or “I’m screwed!” In fact, that’s exactly how she made it sound!
This tragic video made me recall the uncut version of Yanukovych’s November 2004 post-election address. As the President-Elect (soon to be dethroned by the Orange Revolution) stumbles, he gets showered with positive feedback by Hanna Herman, his then press secretary.
Yanukovych, speaking Ukr: Dear countrymen, dear friends, thank you for coming and casting your ballots for the new president — for me. Should I omit “for me”? [makes indecisive gestures]
Hanna Herman, his then press secretary: No, you can leave it that way! It's very good! You're doing very good… Camera man: It was very good, organic. Herman: It's very organic and even your hand gesture was organic!
For an on-again, off-again Prime Minister, running for President means rekindling the honeymoon spirit — making a brand new start.
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: A normal woman has to change her hairstyle sometimes, and I think that, uh, sometimes I’ll be doing this, and I’m asking you not to link this to any political events, weather, mood or whatever. It’s just that a normal woman just has to change hairstyle sometimes. I too am constantly trying to become a normal woman, but the job interferes with it.
So getting another job — the president’s job — is the only way for her to become a normal woman again, right?
Her electionhairing cycles make me wanna play these songs again:
Voiceover: The world financial crisis has hit Ukraine’s coal mining industry hard. Coal demand has fallen severalfold. Will the government be able to save the industry from meltdown?
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: To combat the world crisis, we are carrying out a special program in the coal mining industry. First, we’ve created a state reserve of energy-use coal at power stations. This means that every ton of coal will be paid for. Second, we’ve allocated 4 billion hryvnias from the stabilization fund for the coal mining industry. This means that the industry will have investments and the coal miners will have pay. All miners will receive pay on a timely and complete basis. Should officials do something wrong, call the government using the number you see on the screen. Don’t worry. The crisis will be overcome. Ukraine is strong.
