What U.S. Democrats can learn from the Italian election.

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Slate
http://www.slate.com/id/2139369/?nav=fo

Ciao, Berlusconi! Capisce, Pelosi?
What U.S. Democrats can learn from the Italian election.
By Zach Messitte

Posted Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at 2:10 PM ET


George W. Bush is about to lose his best friend on the continent. If the polls hold up, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his center-right coalition will lose the April 9-10 national elections to Romano Prodi and his partners on the left.

Berlusconi's impending defeat signals the end of an era in Italian politics. Six decades after Americans liberated Italy from the Fascists, the ruling parties are being ousted at least in part because of their clear pro-Americanism. More than the loss of another member of the dwindling coalition of the willing, the likely change in Italy's government shows how the combination of support for the Iraq war, lack of ethical standards, and a shaky economy ought to turn domestic politics upside down. The results could prove instructive for the U.S. Democratic Party as it searches for a clear message before the November elections.

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The April elections have forced Berlusconi to declare that all Italian troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2006, but the announcement came too late and with too much other bad news in the wings. The Italian economy is sputtering under the weight of competition from Asia. Italy's average economic growth over the past 15 years has been the slowest in the European Union, and economists are talking glumly about the possibility of an Argentina-like crisis in the not-so-distant future. Despite his best attempts to pass legislation to protect himself and his associates, Berlusconi also continues to fend off a dizzying array of ethical charges that now include trying to bribe a British lawyer (the estranged husband of Tony Blair's Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell) to give false testimony. Italy's center-right doesn't stand for prosperity, good government, or peace.

Only die-hard Prodi supporters believe a center-left government would be able to make the painful reforms needed to jump-start the economy or the fortitude to clean up the longstanding ethical messes. Iraq and the pro-Bush tilt are, however, different matters. Rome's switch to Paris and Berlin's view of the world will not affect the balance of power in international affairs, but the change is symbolically significant for Italian voters looking for change. Should Prodi win, the fallout from three years of American military intervention in Iraq will have helped to take down a ruling right-wing politician and his party. American Democrats should take note.