President's comment was off base

What constitutes a “hole”?

I won’t get into the president’s vulgarity, but I’ve been weighing that question ever since last week’s bigoted remarks from the Oval Office.

For the sake of good taste, let’s talk in terms of countries that people would like to leave in hopes of a better life in the United States.

There are plenty of them.

Norway’s not on the list, however. 

Both the health care and pensions are better there than in the U.S. Sure, it’s cold. But that’s no reason to emigrate.

So aside from Haiti, El Salvador and the whole of Africa that the president tossed in the toilet last week, what sorts of countries are we talking about?

As it happens, I’ve been to a bunch of them.

So, let’s work our way through an abbreviated list:

•Uzbekistan? That would be a pretty obvious choice. 

If you were a young person with a yearning for freedom, you’d want to get out. A post-Soviet authoritarian regime is firmly ensconced in power. There was a massacre in one city only a few years ago. My colleague and friend Alisher Saipov was likely murdered by the Uzbek secret police. And my friend Navbahor Imamova has emigrated to the U.S. where she works for Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe.

But is it a “hole”?

Nope. 

Despite the fact that its current social and political conditions are dreadful, Uzbekistan is a country rich in many ways. Because the Uzbeks were less nomadic than their neighbors, it has a well-developed culture in the arts. Its architecture is among the finest in the world, and its food is outstanding.

A place you might want to exit for a better life? Sure.

A “hole”? By no means.

•Georgia? The corruption alone might send you looking for the exit.

But again, the cultural richness, the spirit of the people, the astonishing landscape, the vibrancy of daily life would have most folks staying put.

Not a “hole.”

•Kazakhstan? Wow, it’s pretty bleak out there on the steppes. It’s easy to see why someone might want to emigrate.

And, again, there’s a kleptocracy at work that wears down one’s sense of optimism.

But there’s also this enormous sense of untapped potential about the country.

Had I been born Kazakh, I suspect that I would opt to stay put.

•Myanmar/Burma? The answer is easy if you are a part of the Muslim minority; you’d emigrate to the U.S. if you had a chance. The current climate is simply too volatile and too prone to fits of violence.

But, once more, is it a hole? Of course not.

It’s an enchanting country, one struggling to figure out its future and often stumbling, but enchanting just the same. In fact, though there are those who would quickly sign up to leave the country for the U.S., there are plenty of others who would emigrate to Myanmar in the hope that it could realize its potential.

•Russia? Now there’s one the president didn’t expect to see on the list.

But it has in common many of the characteristics one would attribute to the “hole” nations insulted by the president: Its totalitarian rule of law has been abandoned, it is run by gangsters and it is unsafe environmentally. 

Just like the countries identified by the president last week, it’s a place any thoughtful young person might consider emigrating from.

Its only difference from the countries on the president’s “hole” list is that most of its residents are white. Go figure.

•Moldova? Well, that’s a good question. 

Certainly there’s been an exodus from this tiny country between Romania and Ukraine. 

When we lived there in 1998, the population was 5 million. When I returned in 2005, the population was 4 million. It’s now something like 3.5 million.

Where have people gone? They have emigrated to Europe, the U.S. and anywhere else they felt they could find real opportunity.

For something like 20 years, Moldova has been listed as the poorest country in Europe.

Its politics continue to be a mess. A big chunk of the economy is still dominated by the black market. And there are huge ethnic and linguistic challenges that still need to be sorted out.

But is it a “hole”?

Not my Moldova.

It’s a place where the patriots who remain continue to plug on, where new ventures are born, where yesterday’s failures are replaced by tomorrow’s dreams.

In the end, it’s always been about dreams.

Some take root at home. Some require emigration to a more fertile environment.

As to the president and “holes,” he’d be wise to put a sock in his.