Dilettantes on Parade

I was listening to a report from NPR's senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli about the G-8 summit meeting in Italy this week, when she threw out an offhand reference to the fact that the White House's official briefing book for the event included a reference to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as a "political dilettante." It also had this to say about Italy: "a country known for governmental corruption and vice." Not exactly something you'd find in the tourist guides, so I suppose it made sense to put it in a briefing book.

ABC News has the full story here. It sounds like the White House briefing book is being written by Wikipedia.


Berlusconi in pre-dilettante days, on a state visit to Washington in 2003. I forget who the guy on the right is.