Italy in spotlight for wrong reason.

[beeniesmom]

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made the comment/joke about Obama being "tanned" and I think it's being taken out of context a bit.
I've lived in Italy many years and have heard his speeches.
I can assure you that the comment was not meant to be racist.
In Italy, tall, "dark" and handsome are traits that most men want.
Berlusconi himself never goes on TV without a tanning session. He is very vain for his 72 years.
I think it was made as a joke. Probably inappropriate since translated it sounds like something else.

What do you think?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/11/07/vinci.italy.berlusconi.reax.cnn

[lizbud]

While I don't think the Italian PM meant anything bad with his comments,
he does have a very weird sense of humor.:rolleyes: This was shown last night
on Keith Olbermann's show.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/say-thats-not-silvio/34769916

[beeniesmom]

Although the video is very funny, that's not Berlusconi in it. :D

[Barbara]

Unfortunately I am sure that the Italian prime minister meant nothing good with his commentary. He usually knows exactly what to say to be provocative.
I think his comment was extremely out of place and many other Italian politicians are very embarrassed by him.