The Italian Obama Gets Thumped

Italy changes governments about as often as the rest of us change shirts, so news that there was an Italian election is not exactly earth shattering. However, one of Bush's old allies, Silvio Berlosconi, will be returning as the Italian head-of-state, and the guy who dubbed himself the "Italian Obama" took a beating as Michael Novak reports:

Michael Ledeen was correct earlier this week that hatred for America has grown so intense in Europe recently that the nations there seem to be falling all over themselves trying to elect pro-American leaders. The past weekend produced a landslide victory for the pro-Americans in Italy, a majority of well over 100 deputies in the Chamber of Deputies, and some thirty seats in the Senate.

As a Major League infield in Europe, Berlosconi to Merkel to Sarkozy is now a great combination in the field, and they are long-ball hitters, too.

Untold story: George Bush has quietly kindled a love for America in large sections of Europe. Sarkozy before the American Senate was a joy to hear. And Merkel, and now Berlusconi, too!

In Italy, candidate Veltroni, the former quite leftist mayor of Rome — a good mayor, by the way — who led a new national (and unified) leftwing party into an almost eleven-point loss — ran at the end of his campaign as "the Italian Obama," and had the crowds chanting in Italian: "Yes, we can!"

Well, they couldn't.

So much for the idea that the world hates America.