PM praises 'beautiful, tanned' Obama

Herald Sun ^ | 7 November 2008

[Aussie Dasher]

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today praised US election victor Barack Obama as young, beautiful and "tanned" and said the world saw him as a messiah.

"He is young, he is beautiful and he is tanned,'' Mr Berlusconi said in Moscow's Kremlin, when asked how President-elect Obama might get along with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

"I think that there is going to be good co-operation,'' Mr Berlusconi said.

Mr Berlusconi warned that Senator Obama, the United States' first black president, would have to deal with inflated expectations from a world that had portrayed him "almost as a messiah''.

"There are a lot of expectations that he should not disappoint,'' Mr Berlusconi said.

[Red6]

I think Berlusconi is a very smart man and made a comment about who voted for Obama and why he's President. It's sarcastic double talk. IMHO

[Stentor]

I'm thinking Berlusconi might be taking the mickey just a tad...

I'm thinking you nailed it. Didn't peg Italians for this brand of humor.

[Red6]

Hold on.....

Read between the lines. To me it looks like Berlusconi called him a buffoon that is over rated, won't be able to deliver the moon he promised after all, and was elected because of being a young cute black guy that can dance on TV. Don't take his words literally.

[giotto]

He looks haggard to me. Maybe it’s just two years of non-stop campaigning that has taken its toll, but I wonder if he’s healthy. Has he ever released his medical records?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

He is young, he is beautiful and he is tanned

So's the babe on the latest Maxim. I don't think she's qualified to be president either.

[RobbyS]

They may be waiting to get milked even as we write.

[Tzimisce]

Should I bring this guy a towel so he can clean up????

[exhaustedmomma]

world messiah...lot of expectations that he should not disappoint

ummmmm... wonder what the Pope thinks about this Italian's comments?

[agere_contra]

FReepers don’t understand sarcasm.

[volslover]

Do you think if the Monarch of the UK all of a sudden had a black ruler he would call them “tanned”? And they call us racists?

[italyconservative]

I’m in Italy now! The press had a field day with it too! I totally agree with you! Interesting take for sure!

[Mr. Jeeves]

"He is young, he is beautiful and he is tanned,'' Mr Berlusconi said in Moscow's Kremlin, when asked how President-elect Obama might get along with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

This might be an amazingly accurate back-handed insult by Berlusconi. We'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt. ;)

[Oztrich Boy]

As he said Dmitry Medvedev and Barak Obama were similar in that they were “young, beautiful, and tanned”, I don’t think Berlusconi needs any benefit of doubt.