The tale is over or Yushchenko and the myth about Yushchenko

Denis Bohush for Ukrayinska Pravda

 

translated by Halyna Bondaruk

Today rarely somebody remembers these anti-myths that a presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was overcoming several years ago – Messiah, provincial, populist.

They did not come true in full, but began to come through the rest of Ukrainian president positive image.

Of the image that opponents could not destroy, that was existing independently of its carrier and that today is in decline.

Who is guilty for this – Yushchenko himself, his surrounding or absence of professional image-makers command?

“Now breakage of Yushchenko’s image is taking place. Of that virtual Yushchenko that he was”, – Denys Bohush, one of the former political strategist of actual president, told for “Ukrayinska Pravda”. In part there is nothing strange: “…he has done good causes – and he was hurt, he raised an opposition – and he has been poisoned, but he survived. There he became a president. At that all the tales are over. Yushchenko is the president now”.

But changing from “Yushchenko-hero” to “Yushchenko-president” panned out differently from what his PR experts planned. “We expected for some rating fall after beginning of Yushchenko’s presidency, but we did not expect so headlong and forbidding one”, – confessed Bohush.

“Those features that were just announced had suffered destruction. Just September scandal called them into question. These are: command existence, its non-corruption nature, strategic vision presence, expeditious march into WTO and European Union”, – added famous theoretic and imagology practician Georgij Pocheptsov who had worked in Kuchma Presidential Administration before the Orange Revolution.

“We can’t manifest a clear, consistent strategy in the president’s image positioning. He keeps on giving a hope than realizing avowed in practice”, – a head of Laboratory of political psychology and image making in Institute of Social and Political Psychology Pavlo Frolov says.

Discontinuity in image positioning appeared also in uncertainty of proper target audience.

On the one hand Yushchenko tried to be consistent and to tend to abide by the slogan of cat Leopold: “Guys, let’s live friendly!” On the second hand we see how the president without finding support and understanding from allies tries to set relations with his main opponent on the elections. This gives us a reason to believe that in such way he tries to become ‘friend’ among ‘foes’. We can give a lot of examples of such inconsequence”.

Political strategists agree on the main: Yushchenko’s image has got considerable losses during his governance.

Ukrainian Hero

Political policy – is a fight of images. Leader can be a demagogue all the life, be unconscious in economics and pile up mistakes, but he can have a serious command of political strategists and spin doctors that will always draw him out of trouble. And rating will be assured for ever.

That’s why Ukrainian analysts began to worry not about serious mistakes of presidential command – eventually many have predicted command breakdown, corruption scandals, strategy absence etc. For this it was enough to read biographies of Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, Poroshenko and others.

Analysts are worried about other thing – why Yushchenko so dully fails the image test, every time appearing as accused person or stands on the defensive.

“Yushchenko is losing his charisma; he becomes a common person that is a figurant in some scandals. And in these scandals and conflicting situations he acts differently from how people act on their own ground.

When a scandal is about to break in a family, everybody approximately knows how this situation can be resolved. Yushchenko is been changing from charismatic hero into common person. When the scandal with his son began, disappointment increased”, – supposes Denys Bohush.

Not everybody was standing on Majdan for Yushchenko, a part of all was standing for democracy, another part – against Yanukovych. According to Bohush, the percentage of people that say they were standing for Yushchenko sharply decreased, in accordance to this, increased the percentage of those that say they were standing for democracy and against Yanukovych.

“These people remember themselves on revolution and say they were standing not for Yushchenko. We predicted that in such way Yushchenko’s rating decreased of 15% maximum. But not of 25!”, – he said.

This spring the presidential advisers were considered to be delinquent for this tendency. But after changes in the command more facts confirm Yushchenko’s personal belonging to his own mistakes. So, Pavlo Frolov supposes that trace of political strategists is visual only after political strategists’ interference.

“In most cases Viktor Yushchenko simply forgets about their existence and paddles his own canoe, and relies on his own conceptions of public thought. However very often these conceptions are wigged out as they are defined by the nearest surrounding and personal contacts experience”.

Denys Bohush has the same opinion: “Yushchenko’s problem is that the command which was working with him during the elections now is out of it and does not work to support his image as an image of the president. It is quite other logic”.

As PR experts think, the only person who works today for Yushchenko’s image is his press secretary Iryna Herashchenko. But she simply cannot give him civil advises for all questions concerning image making, anti-recessionary reaction, as well as she cannot save him from actions provoked by dishonest surrounding.

“The problem is that the president does not listen to anybody. He has very peculiar view on life and nobody could change his world picture and life schedule, for example, not to work during the weekend”, – Denys Bohush supposes.

Such situation is absolutely normal as presidents are common men, and some of them also like to sleep till 1 p.m. So, the task of image-makers (and other team members) is to hide this masterfully in work with documents, going in for sports or participation in consultations with deputies’ factions.

From Russia with love

Political strategies more often incline to compare Yushchenko with Putin. For some of them this comparison allows to define differences between the heads of the countries.

“Yushchenko and Putin have absolutely opposite images. Putin is a force-leader and all his actions (put somebody to prison, set somebody free) are conceived as actions of a force-leader. The actions of Yushchenko, who is not a force-leader, are conceived differently – when he sets somebody free, a feeling arises that he is already ‘pressed down”. It is quite another situation. He did not set Poroshenko free to the bitter end”, – Denys Bohush supposes.

His colleagues itemize: the question is not of governance style but of image components: populism, telegraphic sentences, communication with common people. Agree that we can draw a parallel between handling of a combat airplane in military Russia and going to Sorochynsky trade fair to meet people in the country which is famous for its agrarian myths.

“From my point of view Yushchenko’s image begins to remind Putin’s one. It begins to repose on people hopes that the president can solve the country problems in future.

The results of monitoring researches of authoritative Russian sociologic service “Levada-Centre” dramatically confirm irrationality of principles on which charismatic leader image is held.

“Levada-Centre” Research Results

2001 2002 2003 2004

People are assured that Putin successfully and worthily enquires with problem solving in the country

14 21 15 16

People hope that Putin will be able to solve problems of the country in future

43 44 46 40

People do not know whom else they can trust

34 31 34 41

It is difficult to answer

9 4 5 3

 

Although Ukrainian respondents were not asked analogical questions, our own researches also show that general rating of Yushchenko does not depend too much on concrete actions success and relevance of the statements”, – Frolov says.

Yushchenko’s regular notices of appeal to common people also add fuel to the fire. For example, spectacles with reception of Paraska Korolyuk in Kyiv reminded to quite a number of people analogical meetings of Putin with veterans, cup-and-saucer dramas with actresses and so on and so forth.

“I can’t agree that Paraska Korolyuk’s arrivals to Kyiv are well-thought-out PR-course even if primarily it was cast of the die. I think we can wrangle how much this PR-course is effective, as it is difficult or even impossible for general of Yushchenko’s supporters to identify with Paraska.

For them she is if not alien then in any case psychologically not their. Beside her they would feel discomfort, uncomfortably and ashamed for their leader”, – Frolov supposes.

But Yushchenko more and more draws off from a modern world tendency understanding and is concerned with preaching the patriarchal style of life. The results of this are various – from the total failure of Ukrainian exhibition stand with his centennial beehives on Tokyo EXPO-2005 to receiving of presidential preferences by Serhij Taruta thanks to his Scythian collection.

Whom to be further

However it is too early for Yushchenko to state his loss. Disturbances in command increase of pressure on the part of opponents and parliamentary elections forthcoming establish powerful moral discomfort for him, but do not curve him.

Simply, as famous American political analyst Richard Neustadt wrote about various presidents, Yushchenko became a head of state and suddenly understood that nobody was hurrying up to execute all his orders, that he couldn’t control everything and force anybody to take action.

As a result he withdrew into himself, sacked all who “betrayed” him (Zinchenko, Poroshenko, Tymoshenko). Depression, mass distrust period came – therefrom are chaotic decisions, inconsiderate actions, and illogical statements.

However as a powerful leader Yushchenko should soon overcome that psychological state. He will have two ways. The first one: through strengthening his role in decision taking process, surrounding him only by inside men and through “crackdown”.

Or the second way: through increase of informational sources number, professionalism of the command, head-to-head game with press and opponents. The first way in democratic country leads to standstill, the second one – to rapid development. Which way Viktor Yushchenko will choose – it is unknown for the moment.

According to Pavlo Frolov “on conscious level Yushchenko tries to be his own self and play a role of ‘nation spiritual parent’, ‘enlightener’. In another case on his unconscious level he is explicitly lack of clear feeling what his own self is in real. And this affects on considerable psychological dependence on his nearest surrounding, and as a result there is not consistency especially in positioning of his own image”.

Georgij Pocheptsov agrees: “The only feature that was kept from past is a feeling that he is sincere and believes in what he declares and says. If this feeling is buried, it will be the most terrible impact for Yushchenko”.

“Everything depends on Yushchenko himself. He can regain people that believe him. His high rating during 4 years until 2004 was not made by political strategists. He has done it by himself. This is a real resource of Yushchenko, his charisma, his appearance. Political strategies could have only corrected something, and neutralized anti-myths etc. Self is the main resource of Yushchenko”, – Denys Bohush supposes.

http://www.pravda.com.ua/en/news_print/2005/10/31/4865.htm