SILVIO BERLUSCONI TOO POPULAR FOR MARRIAGE

May 3 2009

Rome, Italy – Being the leader of the Italian people has long had a great cultural and social relevance throughout the world. From Caesar to Mussolini Italian leaders throughout history have made a huge impact on the people of the country and the world at large. Much like his predecessors, Silvio Berlusconi has maintained a massive
presence in his country and the world at large far beyond what most would consider rational. Also, like his predecessors, Berlusconi has used his massive personal empire to make himself incredibly popular except it appears with his wife.

Just one day after publicly declaring himself the most popular leader in the world, Berlusconi’s wife has filed for divorce. Details of the divorce have not yet been revealed yet but reports indicate that his widespread popularity, especially with younger women, may have played a part in the separation. Now the leader, who also happens to be the wealthiest man in Italy, may be paying a major price for his unbridled popularity though it is unlikely he will face a similar fate to his predecessors.

“There is some debate as to Berlusconi’s actual popularity due to the fact that he owns or controls 90 per cent of the country’s media. That will likely skew the results a little bit towards the upward range of popularity but it is of course done in the best of Italian tradition,” said Scrape TV Political analyst Gabriel Kinsey. “You’d be hard pressed to have the same type of deification that currently surrounds Barack Obama but if any one country is capable of outdoing the United States in that respect it’s the Italians. From the Caesars on up, Italy has had two millennia to perfect their process and the Americans just don’t have that experience.”

With a history of royalty, many older nations in Europe and Asia have a long history of deification though very few outside communist dictatorships have maintained the practice into the 21st century. Berlusconi declared his popularity at 75 per cent approval. 

“The Americans have done an admirable job but they simply don’t have the cultural history or the near complete control of the media that the Italians have and so they are going to be a little bit behind. The advantage Obama holds over the Berlusconi is relative importance of the country. Obama’s profile may be a little less in his own country, but his global profile is massive,” continued Kinsey. “The other difference between the two men is Berlusconi’s eagerness to engage the populace on a personal level. Things like pushing showgirls into Parliament positions and attending teen girls birthday parties are the kinds of things that Obama has just not shown a proclivity for engaging. Doing that kind of thing might help up his true popularity close to Berlusconi’s, until he changes it of course.”

Some though are questioning the veracity of Berlusconi’s popularity claims partly due to brusque nature, his control over the media outlets reporting his status, and his inability to maintain that popularity in his own home.

“One would think that if everyone loved you, or at least 75 per cent of people loved you, than it would be relatively easy to maintain that success at home but apparently that just isn’t the case. Apparently being the most popular simply doesn’t exclude you from divorce. It could be worse,
Mussolini had an official popularity of 100 per cent and he was dragged out into the street and shot. So all in all, things aren’t all that bad,” continued Kinsey. “Berlusconi is by far the longest serving leader of the country since the end of World War II so some of that popularity has to be genuine. Other world leaders could learn a lot from his example and force control over the media and attend birthday parties and they will be able to maintain their rule for a long time, at least on the political front.”

According to reports Berlusconi has rebounded from the divorce filing and is working hard to further his popularity.       

Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent

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