VILNIUS - Perhaps more than any other time in his career, President Valdas Adamkus has come under intense criticism. Newspapers, analysts and politicians have spared no bitter words for the president's taciturn position on the invitation to Moscow and his failure to attend high-profile events such as the Auschwitz anniversary and the Ukrainian president's inauguration.
Equally damaging were Lithuania's own Independence Day commemoration, organized by the President's Office, which resulted in scandal after Adamkus insulted several signatories of the 1990 Independence Act after he failed to invite them to The Opera and Ballet Theater, where more than 1,000 guests celebrated Independence Day.
"To my mind this is an outrage," said one-time parliamentarian and signatory Vytenis Andriukaitis. "Should the signatories ignore the shocking behavior and pretend that nothing has happened? The president himself should assess the mentality of his employees. If nothing happens, and if we don't receive an apology, then perhaps we should only attend Parliament's celebration [of the Independence Act] on March 11 and not humiliate ourselves."
According to the press, this was the first time that Independence Act signatories were not invited to the concert. Instead, the Presidential Palace invited municipality representatives and show business personalities.
Irena Vaisvilaite, presidential adviser, said that in previous years invitations were also sent to only a portion of the signatories.
Other mishaps exacerbated the president's standing. On Feb. 16, the evening news showed jumped at the chance to taunt the President's Office for incorrectly hanging the Lithuanian flag. Journalists hinted that the president would have to pay a 5,000 litas (1,450 euro) fine for disrespecting the national symbol and violating the law.
Vaisvilaite explained that the media's mockery was groundless. "Those accusing the office of incorrectly hanging the national flag did not make a distinction between the common right-hand side and the heraldic one, which is the left for the viewer. So the colors of the flag, in the heraldic means, were arranged correctly," she said.
However trivial the mistake, the flag-scandal, erupting just after Independence Day, intensified the onslaught of criticism aimed at the president over the past two months. During his first term, no one in the media dared mock Adamkus. Today humorists on the popular TV show Dviracio Zinios not only tease the president, but they have created a character to parody him.
Frederikas Jansonas, reviewer in the daily Respublika, was concerned over the unprecedented disapproval. "You know, I sincerely feel sorry for 'your excellence.' Remember his first term 's the only thing someone dared to chuckle about were his advisers. Now the president's advisers publicly joke about him, and TV critics follow," he said. "Valdas and Bozena [the president's secretary] have replaced Rugelis [a TV character whose prototype was based on the president's first-term adviser]. And not even one fifth of the term has yet passed."
Doubts about the president's merits began after he chose to vacation in Mexico rather than attend President Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration, and worsened after he failed to attend the Auschwitz-liberation ceremony.
"The explanation that Adamkus will fly to Israel to attend the holocaust museum's opening in March sounds like a bad excuse," said Dovile Jakniunaite, a political analyst at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science.
Incredibly, most of the criticism still centers around what Adamkus hasn't done 's decide whether he is going to Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations.
"The president's attempts to postpone his answer raises question over his ability to make strong decisions. The statement 'as a citizen I would not go, but as a leader I feel responsibility for the state' is simply absurd. Doesn't that reveal a double standard in the president's behavior? One of our state interests is to have a leader who would think and act as a citizen," Jakniute said. "Neither do internal politics show off Adamkus' strength. Indeed, in the present situation, the president is finding it very difficult to find his place in the political system."
The president has so far explained that only the international situation and political bookmaking could persuade him to attend the Moscow celebrations, and that his personal values had nothing to do with it.
"If the head of state counts values with a calculator, it is difficult to speak about the prestige of such a country or the possibility to step out moody cynicism. I have to admit that, so far, we can see two presidents. One is active and courageous and has deep insight 's as Adamkus was during the Ukraine crises, or when he pressured the ruling coalition to appoint an 'easy' state ombudsmen," said Andrius Navickas, the editor of a political internet portal bernardinai. "Then we saw a completely different president, who was tired and played indistinctly in other cases."
