EDITORIAL: Two countries, two elections (07/25/04)

EDITORIAL

Two countries, two elections

This year is marked by an intriguing confluence of events: both the United States and Ukraine have presidential elections in the fall (that's despite the fact that U.S. elections are once every four years, while Ukraine's are once every five years) that are seen as potential watersheds for their nations. And we, Ukrainian Americans, are intensely interested in the outcomes of races in both countries.

There's no doubt that the campaigns in both countries have begun in earnest. Just take a quick look at the last two issues of this newspaper, where news about the campaign in Ukraine was our top story. We've even begun a new news section called "Election Watch" to better present brief items about the presidential election campaign in Ukraine. Last week's issue featured a page-one story filed by one of our colleagues from Parma, Ohio, about a campaign stop by Vice-President Dick Cheney at the astrodome of St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. This week's front page carries a story by our Washington correspondent about a meeting of Ukrainian American community representatives with a foreign policy adviser for John F. Kerry.

While the vice-president brought the Bush-Cheney message to a Ukrainian venue, he could have delivered his campaign speech anywhere. Frankly, it was a canned speech - the usual generalities about American values and the war on terror. Not a word about where he was speaking, whom he was addressing, who had welcomed him, or the country to which many of his listeners trace their roots. Did Mr. Cheney even know he was among Ukrainians?

The Kerry-Edwards message, on the other hand, was delivered by a surrogate but to a specific audience on the specific topic of U.S.-Ukraine relations. Richard Holbrooke, formerly with the administration of President Bill Clinton, serves as an adviser to the Democratic hopeful. Unfortunately, the main point of his presentation seemed to be that Mr. Kerry is not George W. Bush - hardly an effective way to define the candidate's views on Ukraine.

Thus, the campaign for our votes has just begun. It's time also for us to do our homework. As Americans we must consider each candidate's platform on domestic issues - we can read about those in our local and national newspapers. But we also need to take a good look at what foreign policies each one supports. And in that mix is a candidate's position on Ukraine. Do we now know enough about Sen. Kerry's, or President Bush's, or Ralph Nader's stances in that regard? Certainly not. In the coming weeks we hope to learn more about where each candidate stands on the issues that are of particular concern to our community.

We hasten to point out that Ukrainian Americans are more than just a minority constituency in this country. We also happen to reside in some of the most important states - the so-called battleground states - that may win or lose the election. Thus, it behooves the candidates to make their message to us count.

As well, it is important to remember that, while Ukrainian Americans can't vote for the next president of Ukraine, we can cast our ballots for the next president of the United States. Who we choose will make a difference both for us in this country, and for our fellow Ukrainians and others in Ukraine. In a way, then, our votes count here, and there.

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