Last year George Bush called the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine one of the "landmark events in the history of liberty".
The National Review said "We are proud of what you have wrought."
I can understand why Bush and his cheerleaders were so happy. After all, the Yushchenko government and the Bush administration have a lot in common - rampant croneyism, corruption and a preference for loyalty over competence for a start.
Today, President Viktor Yushchenko sacked his entire government including influential Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and installed a new Prime Minister, regional governor Yury Yekhanurov, who has always been a loyal supporter of the President. The reason? Allegations of mass graft which had already caused Yushchenko's chief of staff to quit in disgust.
The allegations do not center on the sacked cabinet members, however, but on cabinet members who have been forced to resign due to allegations of graft and in particular on the President's son who, although a student, drives a $70,000 BMW and sports a $20,000 cellphone as well as living a publicly playboy lifestyle.
The United States played down a political crisis in Ukraine after the sacking of the government but said it was vital he speed up the pace of reforms.
"They will name a new government, they'll have elections next year and I think we just have to keep our eyes focused on the long term and not look at short-term adjustments," State Department official Kurt Volker said in Brussels.
So a President under fire reacts by sacking anyone who may be disloyal, regardless of their competence. That may not be the path of "liberty" and it certainly doesn't seem like it can be dismissed as a "short-term adjustment" but it sure does fit the pattern. The acorn...sorry, I mean orange...does not fall far from the tree.
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