By John Zogby
Isn’t this a fascinating question? It is one thing to recognize that President Barack Obama has captured the imagination of people all over the world. It is an essential ingredient in the power and influence he holds. In the final analysis, constituents love it when their chosen leader is seen as larger than his or her own base.
But this was different. This was both a wistfulness and wishfulness I heard among Italians of all ages. Italy has had a troubled government since almost the beginning of its national unity. Governments changed hands with alacrity and the old party alignments barely produced majorities before they fell. Today’s party consolidation is such that coalitions are broader and majorities more possible, but there is a crisis in confidence that transcends the normal dysfunction of Italian politics. Italians clearly do not favor left-leaning Democrats because socialism is expensive and not growth-oriented. But current right-of-center President Silvio Berlusconi is seen as hopelessly corrupt in both his public and private lives and is referred to by all sides as a national embarrassment.
So when I kept hearing the question raised above in the title of this post, I had to think back to the conditions that led to the election of President Obama in the U.S. The U.S. government, political system, financial institutions, corporate leadership, and church officials were facing the greatest crisis in confidence since 1932. In the election of 2008 all of these were to a great degree on trial. Conventional wisdom argued for the junior Senator from Illinois to wait his turn. As it turned out, in post-Katrina U.S., Americans felt the existing models of operation were no advantage at all. Add to the mix great demographic change in the form of young people, including Hispanics, African Americans, and a creative class ,who were all demanding change and, in retrospect, the Obama victory now seems inevitable.
As for Italy, there is no question that its scandal-ridden and ineffectual government and political system are in deep trouble. It remains to be seen if one young, dynamic, visionary, consensus, third-way leader can emerge. It is arguable whether or not Italy’s young people can be energized the same way their American counterparts were in 2008.
#1 by Dennis on October 15th, 2009 - 3:08 pm
The Italians can have our Obama. Although he looks good, sounds good and said all the right things to get elected, he is as impotent a leader as this world has ever seen. Americans do not want the Western Europe style of government that he stands for. Please come and take him.
#2 by Michael Carmichael on October 20th, 2009 - 9:33 am
The Italians have a vibrant form of democracy – one that may be closer to the Jeffersonian model than the USA’s – because they do have relatively frequent changes of government. Berlusconi’s lengthy tenure is an anomaly – and Italy will have a progressive movement that will demand social change.
#3 by Howard Maroney on October 24th, 2009 - 10:13 am
Well said Dennis, however I’m concerned that he is not impotent. He has the potential to do great harm to our country. We absolutely must bring some balance back to our legislative structure in 2010. The idea of Checks and Balance is critical to offset the extremism now in charge.
#4 by Sharon on November 19th, 2009 - 4:41 pm
You can have him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#5 by Madeleine Dewar on November 21st, 2009 - 12:21 pm
After 8 years of the total destruction of both our own country’s ideals and our image across the world not to mention the complete bankruptcy of our country to uber-rich individuals and corporations after an administration that had us well on the way to a balanced budget it seems pretty ignorant to complain about a charismatic president who has brought us into the sunlight in a few short months. I personally consider those who would rather our country fail than give a new president even a chance to succeed about the most unpatriotic sentiment I’ve heard in a long time. The one good thing I’ve seen in all this is the complete internal destructruction of the Republican Party by the far right wingnut fundamentalists who are driving the moderate honest Republicans to the Independant column.
#6 by Michael Carmichael on December 7th, 2009 - 9:20 am
Just back from Italy where I heard the same sort of yearning for an Obamaesque leader of the opposition to Berlusconi, I have no doubt that the Italian people can be motivated to turn a page and open a new chapter of their own history. Berlusconi is bedeviled with dozens of criminal investigations now pursuing him – and his escapades with prostitutes are merely his media-saturated method for concealing the enormity of the scandals engulfing him.