…Gorbachev became more and more like an evangelist instead of a general secretary. He was a TV star. Soon enough, everyone got sick of his sermons: “back to Lenin,” “a leap into developed socialism”…It made you wonder: What have we been building, then, “underdeveloped socialism”? What did we have…[A pause.] I remember that abroad, we saw a different Gorbachev who barely resembled the Gorbachev we knew at home. Over there, he felt free. His jokes landed, he articulated his thoughts clearly. At home, he played the game, walked the line. And these things made him appear to be weak. And a windbag.
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