What Type of Language Must be Used by the President

Several unethical expressions used by the Georgian President during the government meeting held at the Kvareli Lake caused a negative response from the public. First Saakashvili used the word "shameless", then "impudent" and "buggering around". The finale of the annoyed President's speech was his comment that the ministries are "pushing needle in a certain organ" (a rude way of indicating that someone is doing nothing/idling). Saakashvili started his speech by lashing out at former Deputy Minister of Economic Development Grigol Gobejishvili and then finally he criticized the whole government. In particular the President said:

"That Grigol Gobejishvili must be considered a good fellow among his friends. He's probably a good drinker and eater. He must be regularly going to funeral repasts and weddings, christens children, he's a real good fella, he must be always helping out his closest buddies, but he doesn't love Georgia and it's really so. He's actually a shameless, impudent and insolent official really. That's what the main problem of Georgia is. Not the foreign aggressions, but the shameless officials like Grigol Gobejishvili are the real problem for us today. And by the way inquire about it and look into the mirror real good - how many ministries have people exactly like him, because you are people, especially people working under you, for whom the best pose is to do nothing, to bugger around and excuse me, push the needle in a certain organ".

Lawyer Lia Mukhashavria believes that the President's speech was obscene and she says such expressions are punishable under the Georgian legislation. Law on Freedom of Speech and Expression considers all those statements that flagrantly violate universally established ethical norms and that have no political, cultural or scientific value to be obscenities. In her interview with the Voice of America Lia Mukhashavria says:

"Such public figures as our President have certain limitations as far as freedom of expression is concerned. Those terms and words that he used during the government session are in my opinion obscenities. They are obscenities in everyday life and they seem to be especially obscene in my view because he used them in connection with public figures who hold high political positions, the society is offended to hear such terminology from the President of the country publicly".

Media expert Zviad Koridze points out that the President's speech was broadcast live by four TV channels including Public Broadcasting. Propagation of obscenities is punishable under the Law on Broadcasting too. In particular Zviad Koridze said:

"Of course it's impossible to censor President's speech and it shouldn't be censored anyway, but propagating it (President's obscenities) through a live broadcast increases the responsibility of both sides. Public Broadcaster is directly obligated to make corrections and apologize for it (for obscenities). As for the other broadcasters, they're also obligated by Code of Conduct for Broadcasters to take certain steps when something like that is happening during their live broadcasts".

Grigol Gobejishvili who received the abovementioned epithets has been working at high positions in Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economic Development for years. He left the Ministry of Economic Development after the previous Minister Zurab Pololikashvili resigned. Members of the ruling party see nothing unethical in President's expressions. Gia Khuroshvili, Parliamentary Secretary of the President, says:

"I would of course share the President's pathos that the bureaucracy in Georgia must be much more effective. Individuals who apply to certain institutions must feel responsibility from them. Issues must be resolved even more quickly and effectively. Of course in that regard my and President's views cannot be different".

President Saakashvili was not loath to use harsh words in previous years as well. When the former Head of Customs Office Zurab Antelidze was fired the President used the following phrase in connection with him: "Look at him, what's he look like? What is he capable of doing anyway?" Expert Zviad Koridze says the President is trying to influence the public with such language.

"Such manner of speech was characteristic to Saakashvili before he came to power and he continued to use such language after he became President. His rhetoric is much different from the language used by previous post-communist governments. I mean the language used by for example Eduard Shevardnadze, Nino Burjanadze, Vazha Lortkipanidze; it's the manner of speech which enables a person to talk a lot but still the listeners are left without information, it's the style of language that isn't subject to content analysis. But Mikheil Saakashvili has always been distinguished for such active language and he often uses idioms that, as a rule, are considered inappropriate even in everyday life. But he was destroying the old language with it. By and by it became part of his character and nowadays Saakashvili uses only this kind of rhetoric when he wants to have an impact on public".

For the sake of fairness it should be noted that presidents of other countries are also noted for using obscenities. For example while Viktor Yushchenko was the President of Ukraine he called Yulia Timoshenko a bum; Romanian President Traian Basescu called a young female journalist garbage; former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called one of the pensioner voters "fat"; President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "nazi scum" during a live broadcast. However, all those presidents and prime ministers, unlike our leader, have later publicly apologized for their language.