As I stood and placed my right hand on my heart and recited the Oath of Allegiance to the flag, I looked around the hot auditorium of a high school in suburban Virginia and saw the tear-stained faces in the crowd; Hispanic, African, Asian. All were here for one purpose: to complete the journey to citizenship. To realize the full life-affirming dream of democracy, something many of us had been denied in our home countries.
This journey for many Georgian expatriates began in 2004, when Mikhael Saakashvili took power in the so-called “Rose Revolution.”
The American-educated lawyer won the support of American politicians –with the help of K Street lobbyists — who were anxious for Georgia to become the democracy it had promised. But the corruption of Saakashvili’s government was gradually exposed: media suppression, human rights abuses, graft, political prisoners being raped and tortured in the country’s rat-infested jails. After invading South Ossetia and sparking a bloody war with Russia, Saakashvili was seen as unstable, hotheaded, and mercurial, at best. The BBC interview where Saakashvili was filmed nervously chewing on his necktie went viral.
As millions of Georgians took to the streets in peaceful demonstrations, serious political opposition began to form.
It finalized last year when the present government lost a critical election to the coalition “Georgian Dream” formed by Georgian billionaire Bdzina Ivanishvili, a rags-to-riches, soft-spoken patriot and philanthropist who vowed to restore freedom to his homeland.
Mr. Ivanishvili is the first to admit he is not a politician. He was drawn to his current position as Prime Minister not by lust for power, but commitment to the Georgian people. His dream is for Georgia to join NATO and the European Union and to forge better ties with Russia. He has built schools and roads with his own money. He bought houses for every family in his home village, where he once ran barefoot through the dirt roads. Like any reformer, he has had successes and failures. But he galvanized the Georgian people (as well as furiously Tweeting political exiles), who were euphoric at his miraculous ascension.
While Mr. Saakashvili is still technically president, his second and final term expires in three months.
Politics in Georgia is a blood sport. Those who lose elections don’t go on book tours and appear on talk shows and make $25,000 for a speech to the Grain and Feed Association.
Most likely, they go to jail or seek political asylum in Europe.
In October, the Georgian people go back to the polls to elect a new President. While Ivanishvili’s popularity (once more than 80 percent favorable according to the National Democratic Institute) has dipped to 69 percent, it’s not a game changer.
Many Georgians expected Ivanishvili to turn around the economy overnight, providing jobs out of his own pocket perhaps. Lining the streets with laris. (In fact, he has indeed used his considerable financial resources to fund many projects.) The good news is most Georgians don’t trust any other political party to complete reforms. Approval for Saakashvili’s party, United National Movement (UNM) remains at only 10 percent. And while NATO warned Ivanishvili’s government not to punish former corrupt officials who served under Saakahsvili, the people of Georgia — who had been suffering under the oppressive regime — support seeing justice exacted.
But Saakashvili’s Washington lobbyists are still earning their millions. Congressman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) supported a favorable provision on deepening defense cooperation with Georgia. The next week, he changed his mind and offered up a statement on Capitol Hill saying the United States should stop all aid to the country if Ivanishvili continued to arrest former Saakashvili officials. The statement was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives. Observers wagged that it was certainly a first for a sitting president to support cutting off aid to his own country.
Meanwhile, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are keeping their distance from Ivanishvili, which is a tactical mistake. Georgia is a strategically located country, and can be viewed as a relatively stable, pro-Western democracy which borders Russia, Iran and Turkey. In 2010, Tbilisi waived visa requirements for Iranian citizens and trade and tourism increased. In recent weeks, Ivanishvili has taken steps to keep his government at arms length, ending the visa-free program with Tehran.
The strength of U.S.-Georgia relations is codified in the 2009 U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership. Over the last twenty years, the American people have provided over $1.5 billion in assistance to Georgia through USAID. Programs include initiatives to stimulate economic growth, develop democratic institutions, enhance energy security, and improve health and education.
Georgia is also a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism and a gateway for energy resources from the region to Europe and beyond. Georgian soldiers gave their lives in Afghanistan, supporting U.S. troops.
The “Georgian Dream” wants what the United States wants; economic growth, free media, free elections, more jobs and less corruption. Basically, it’s the American Dream.
It’s now time for President Obama to pick up the phone and call Ivanishvili and invite him to Washington. A small White House dinner would be a wise move. A brief photo op. Tea in the Oval Office. Obama cannot and should not ignore Ivanishvili or his new coalition of bright and honest policy makers.
It’s the smart thing to do.
Tsotne Bakuria is a former Member of Parliament from Georgia. He lives in Washington D.C.