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Berlusconi was Italy

Walter Russell Mead says that Silvio Berlusconi was a decadent emperor who amassed more power than any politician in modern Italian history, and did nothing with it but protect his private interests. But to say he betrayed Italy is not true: His political genius was more to recognize that Italy didn’t want change and then […]

Walter Russell Mead says that Silvio Berlusconi was a decadent emperor who amassed more power than any politician in modern Italian history, and did nothing with it but protect his private interests. But to say he betrayed Italy is not true:

His political genius was more to recognize that Italy didn’t want change and then to give the people what they wanted, with enough razzle dazzle and style to conceal the deathly inertia and paralysis at the heart of the political system. …

Had he tried to make changes, he likely would have lost his support much more quickly.  There was no coalition for real change in Italy during his era; there may not be one even now.  Many people are dissatisfied with the state of affairs in a country that has seen no growth for ten years, but they are dissatisfied in such different ways and want such different things that it is difficult and perhaps impossible to put together a coherent program for change that could command the necessary support.  [Emphasis mine — RD]…

Berlusconi’s fall from power doesn’t mean that an opportunity was lost.  There was no opportunity for comprehensive Italian reform.  It means that an era is ending; the dam has broken and the pond on whose surface he floated is draining away.

To what extent might the same thing Mead says (in my boldface) about Berlusconi be said about Barack Obama, and any other would-be American president? That is, many Americans are dissatisfied with the state of affairs in our country, but we are dissatisfied in such different ways and want such different things that it’s hard to see how any leader or party could command the necessary support to get the country moving again. 

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