BERLUSCONI & OBAMA 2

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/berlusconi-under-fire-for-obama-joke/

November 6, 2008, 3:39 pm

Berlusconi Under Fire for Obama 'Joke'

By Rachel Donadio

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi did it again.

Meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Mr. Berlusconi told Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that President-elect Barack Obama "has all the qualities to get along well with you: he's young, handsome and suntanned, so I think you can develop a good working relationship."

Italy's leading daily, Corriere della Sera, ran a video of the scene.

The leader of the center-left opposition, Walter Veltroni, said Mr. Berlusconi's remarks "seriously damage the image and dignity of our country on the international scene," Corriere della Sera reported. Mr. Veltroni — who has been called the Obama of Italy, except that he lost the election –­ added that such "cabaret one-liners" showed a "lack of respect" unworthy of a statesman.

He called on Mr. Berlusconi "to offer official apologies."

But Mr. Berlusconi said the remark had been all in fun: "Are there really people who don't understand it was a cute thing to say?" he said, according to Corriere. Adding: "God save us from imbeciles. How can you take such a great compliment negatively?"

Fwd: SILVIO & OBAMA ....1

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi, the idiosyncratic billionaire who has dominated much of Italy's public life since 1994, was elected to a third term as prime minister on April 14, 2008.

Rejecting the sober responsibility of the departing prime minister, Romano Prodi, Italians chose in a moment of national self-doubt a man whose dramas — the clowning and corruption scandals, his rocky relations with his wife and political partners, his growing hairline and ever browner hair — play out very much in public.

Mr. Berlusconi, 71, Italy's third-richest man and owner of media and sports businesses, has survived a number of prosecutions and repeated rejections by voters. But his 2008 campaign was more subdued than his four other runs for national office, a reflection, many experts said, of the deep problems facing Italy, where growth has again dropped nearly to zero.

In this election, his promises were more modest — lowering taxes, cutting government spending and improving the nation's ailing infrastructure — a platform not much different from that of his opponent, Walter Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome and leader of the Democratic Party.

Related: Italy

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/silvio_berlusconi/index.html

Gaffe di Berlusconi: Barack Obama è bello e abbronzato

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ITALO_NAIJA ..ROME INFO