Berlusconi Jokes About 'Tanned' Obamas

SOURCE: http://news.aol.com/article/silvio-berlusconi-refers-again-to-barack/690101

(Sept. 28) -- Silvio Berlusconi this week further consolidated his already strong reputation for political tastelessness. At the gala dinner for the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the Italian prime minister visibly irked President Barack Obama with his unabashed ‘va-va-va-voom’ hand gestures when he was introduced to Michelle Obama. Instead of directing a respectful glance into the first lady’s eyes, he first gave her gown a Via Veneto-style leer—and reaped an arms-length handshake from Mrs. Obama instead of the warm embrace she gave other leaders.

Yesterday Berlusconi, addressing a rally of supporters in Milan, was at it again. He said he was bringing greetings from "What's his name? Some tanned guy. Ah, Barack Obama!" He then mentioned Michelle and told the receptive crowd, "You won't believe it, but the two of them went to the beach because the wife is also tanned."

When Berlusconi referred to Obama last November as having “a good tan,” he was widely criticized at home and abroad. He said then it had been “an affectionate joke,” and called his critics “imbeciles.”

Since then the former cruise-ship crooner, whose media interests have made him Italy’s richest man, has rarely been out of hot water. Last spring his wife filed for divorce, saying she had had enough of his “frequenting underage females.” Several young women have claimed they were paid to be with Berlusconi at parties in his private residences in Rome and on the island of Sardinia. Berlusconi denied ever paying for sex, saying, “If you have to pay, I ask you, what joy is there?”

The swirling charges over his personal life have weakened Berlusconi’s support at the Vatican, and this month there’s been new tension with one of his most stalwart political allies, Gianfranco Fini. But with the opposition in tatters, Berlusconi’s political position at the head of government appears all but unassailable. Earlier this month he told a press conference, “I think that I am far and away the best prime minister in Italy's 150-year history.” He makes no claim to being the most tactful.