Why Vote Berlusconi?

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March 31, 2008 · Filed Under Italian politics

The word on the via (street) here is that Mr Berlusconi is quite likely to win the Italian general elections, which are coming up faster than a flashy Ferrari in your wing mirrors. However, if you work for Alitalia or one of the myriad of companies that feed off the collapsing Italian airline, you’ll probably want the B man holding Italy’s reins. Berlusco is very good at giving the impression he is Mr Italy, even if he well knows that by keeping Alitalia, Allitalian, he will also be safeguarding his own power base.

Meanwhile Vetroni, the only other candidate who appears to stand something like a chance against the multi-media marketing manipulating Berlusco, is playing things ever so gently.

Why? Because he knows that the only way he stands a gnats chance in hell of sitting in the prime minister’s seat is by continuing to scratch several hundred backs at the same time. Hence the muted election campaign. If he does not scratch backs, he will end up treading on toes. No win, no win, situation. And, should he achieve the unlikely, he’ll have to keep rubbing the backs of a lot of people for a lot of time, if he is to have any hope of keeping himself in power for more than a few nanoseconds. It’s the usual fragile virtually useless destined to fail Italian coalition style that Veltroni is aiming for. Same old same old.

However, the B man may not have everything his own way, as it is by no means clear who will grab the majority in Italy’s upper house, the senate. Confusion at this level will, as usual, lead to a virtually inanimate government, which, yet again, will lead to Italy’s one step forward, two steps back, style of progress. Another reason to back Berlusco.

People will vote for Berlusconi. They love his brusque ‘tell it like it is’ directness, which, to many Italians, almost appears to be something like honesty. And this is another reason why he won’t find himself short of votes.

Whether of course he will actually do any good for the Living Museum remains to be seen, but the image of gnats in hell springs to mind once more, oddly enough.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if Italy became the new Albania of Europe? No, I hear you bay, that cannot happen. All I can say is mafia, mozzarella, trash, and dioxin.

But the people will still vote for Berlusconi, at least until a real viable alternative emerges.

Funny thing is though, that despite the dodgy characters, there is an awful lot to like about Italy. At least for the moment.

There, sorry, I’ve dissed Italy a wee bit, but only after mentioning the Chianti Sculpture Park in my previous post, so I thought I could get away with it.

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Tags: Berlusconi, Italian, Italian elections, Italian government, Italian politics, Italy, Vetroni

Comments

2 Responses to “Why Vote Berlusconi?”

Gege' on March 31st, 2008 8:43 pm

I don’t believe in fairy tales, but…
GOD HELP THIS COUNTRY if they elect Silvio again!

Silvio’s a lot of things, some of them admirable. If nothing else, he’s a SALESMAN. He has the ability to use language and image in order to make the masses believe in him… at their own expense. I suppose this, in a fucked up way, is an admirable trait in that, well, it’s not easy to do. He sure knows how to make money! And what a fantastic self-promoter! Now, THAT’s talent!

But he’s also a liar. And a criminal, let’s not forget. He’s had laws passed to save his own ass. This is not admirable.

How many times do the Italian people have to swallow his stories? How MANY contracts is he going to sell them before they tell him where he can put his contracts? He’s running around the place like Chicken Little, screaming that the Left has gotten us into this predicament. HELLO! Does anyone remember that the problems here didn’t begin 2 years ago? Is anyone better off today than they were EIGHT years ago? Nobody, unless you’re one of Silvio’s friends and cronies who weekend with him on the costa smeralda.

Politics is a filthy game. Silvio has the distinction of playing it dirty.
AlexR on March 31st, 2008 8:56 pm

Hi Gege’,

Hope everything is OK in your neck of the woods.

As for dear old Berlusco, I tend to err in favour of your opinion - he most probably won’t do much good for Italy.

And Italians seem to have forgotten that his last, and recent, government did not do a fat lot - despite lasting for a record time.

As you say, politics is a dirty activity, and only the unclean play it well…

Scruples? Who needs scruples? Integrity….now what does it mean???

Kind regards,

Alex