ABSTRACT
On December 12, Mikhail Gorbachev met with a large contingent of television journalists and commentators and newspaper editors at the Kremlin. Various media organs and journalists who had been trying to get Gorbachev's attention for months, and who had obediently lined up to interview him, suddenly found that he was available. As Gorbachev divorced himself from the power and privileges of office, he unconsciously and instinctively demonstrated qualities that revealed what a remarkable politician he was, as he had done during the early years of perestroika. Gorbachev received no response to his many appeals to the parliaments, the people, the country. They were tired and were no longer willing to follow him—or anyone else, for that matter. Gorbachev made his entrance into the hall of the State Council, where about forty journalists were assembled, and headed for his usual seat as presiding officer.
