{"id":517,"date":"2013-05-29T19:31:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T23:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=517"},"modified":"2013-05-29T19:31:32","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T23:31:32","slug":"italian-lesson-what-the-president-and-speaker-could-learn-from-andreotti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/italian-lesson-what-the-president-and-speaker-could-learn-from-andreotti\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Lesson: What the President and Speaker Can Learn about Power from Giulio Andreotti"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Giulio<\/a>

Giulio Andreot\u00adti (cred\u00adit: Cor\u00adriere del\u00adla Sera)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c<\/span>Pow\u00ader only bur\u00addens those who don\u2019t pos\u00adsess it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 Giulio Andreot\u00adti<\/a>,<\/span> for\u00admer Ital\u00adian Prime Minister<\/p>\n

What would Giulio Andreot\u00adti make of John Boehn\u00ader and Barack Oba\u00adma?[Note: The quote in its orig\u00adi\u00adnal Ital\u00adian is here<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Chances are, you\u2019ve nev\u00ader heard of Andreot\u00adti, though he is among the most accom\u00adplished politi\u00adcians of the twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry. Andreot\u00adti, who died ear\u00adli\u00ader this month at the age of 94, dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded Ital\u00adian pol\u00adi\u00adtics for near\u00adly half a cen\u00adtu\u00adry. He served as its prime min\u00adis\u00adter <\/a>on three sep\u00ada\u00adrate occa\u00adsions and at one time or oth\u00ader held vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly every impor\u00adtant cab\u00adi\u00adnet min\u00adistry. He was a polit\u00adi\u00adcal prodi\u00adgy \u2013 elect\u00aded to help write the country\u2019s new con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion in 1946 at the age of 27, named under\u00adsec\u00adre\u00adtary to the Coun\u00adcil of Min\u00adis\u00adters at age 28, and assum\u00ading a cab\u00adi\u00adnet min\u00adistry while still in his 30s.<\/p>\n

Andreot\u00adti led the Chris\u00adt\u00adian Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Par\u00adty that ran the Ital\u00adian gov\u00adern\u00adment from the end of the Sec\u00adond World War through the ear\u00adly 1990s. His par\u00adty was anti-fas\u00adcist, anti-com\u00admu\u00adnist and pro-church, as its name sug\u00adgests. It favored an expan\u00adsive gov\u00adern\u00adment that insti\u00adtut\u00aded all man\u00adner of social wel\u00adfare pro\u00adgrams. In for\u00adeign affairs, it was pro-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan and anti-Soviet.<\/p>\n

Though his career was remark\u00adable both for its achieve\u00adments and its length, Andreot\u00adti is bet\u00adter remem\u00adbered today for the scan\u00addals that pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtat\u00aded his fall. His ties to orga\u00adnized crime are well-estab\u00adlished. Even the Ital\u00adian appeals court that over\u00adturned his con\u00advic\u00adtion for Mafia-relat\u00aded activ\u00adi\u00adty (because the statute of lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions had expired) affirmed Andreotti\u2019s \u201c<\/span>authen\u00adtic, sta\u00adble and friend\u00adly open\u00adness towards mafiosi\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The reform cam\u00adpaign (\u201cmani pulite\u201d or \u201cclean hands\u201d) <\/a>that roust\u00aded Andreot\u00adti from office in 1993 and that result\u00aded in the demise of his par\u00adty iron\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly inau\u00adgu\u00adrat\u00aded an era in Ital\u00adian pol\u00adi\u00adtics that would be dom\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded by Sil\u00advio Berlus\u00adconi, who at the time was viewed as a polit\u00adi\u00adcal out\u00adsider, a suc\u00adcess\u00adful busi\u00adness\u00adman who would clean up Italy\u2019s mess. Thus did \u201cclean hands\u201d give us \u201cbun\u00adga-bun\u00adga.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it is no more fair to define Andreot\u00adti exclu\u00adsive\u00adly by his scan\u00addals than to define Bar\u00adry Bonds exclu\u00adsive\u00adly by his steroid use. Andreotti\u2019s achieve\u00adments were extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary. When he first tast\u00aded pow\u00ader, Italy was in ruins. Its econ\u00ado\u00admy rav\u00adaged by two world wars in a gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, its pol\u00adi\u00adtics poi\u00adsoned by the lega\u00adcy of Mus\u00adsoli\u00adni and threat\u00adened by extrem\u00adists, its psy\u00adche rav\u00adaged by the rub\u00adble of Allied and Ger\u00adman bom\u00adbard\u00adments. From all of this arose an eco\u00adnom\u00adic, polit\u00adi\u00adcal and cul\u00adtur\u00adal revival that looks the more remark\u00adable in ret\u00adro\u00adspect. Under Andreotti\u2019s lead\u00ader\u00adship, Italy emerged from its wreck\u00adage to become a pros\u00adper\u00adous and proud nation.<\/p>\n

Italy over\u00adcame its prob\u00adlems in part because its lead\u00aders made the tough choic\u00ades and com\u00adpro\u00admis\u00ades that pol\u00adi\u00adtics requires.  They under\u00adstood that pow\u00ader was ephemer\u00adal and time was short.  They pre\u00adferred deci\u00adsions to excus\u00ades, solu\u00adtions to blame-shift\u00ading.  They were flawed \u2014 often deeply so \u2014 but their achieve\u00adments are inarguable.<\/p>\n

I thought of Andreot\u00adti yes\u00adter\u00adday morn\u00ading when Politi\u00adco ran a piece enti\u00adtled, \u201cJohn Boehner\u2019s Shrink\u00ading Pow\u00ader.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>House Speak\u00ader John Boehn\u00ader,\u201d the arti\u00adcle began, \u201cwho by title and posi\u00adtion should be the sec\u00adond most pow\u00ader\u00adful per\u00adson in Wash\u00ading\u00adton, sure doesn\u2019t seem or sound like it.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>He has lit\u00adtle abil\u00adi\u00adty to work his will with fel\u00adlow House Repub\u00adli\u00adcans. He has quit for good his solo efforts to craft a grand bar\u00adgain on tax\u00ades and spend\u00ading. And he hasn\u2019t both\u00adered to ini\u00adti\u00adate a sub\u00adstan\u00adtive con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adtion with Pres\u00adi\u00addent Barack Oba\u00adma in this cal\u00aden\u00addar year.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>All of this recent\u00adly prompt\u00aded Minor\u00adi\u00adty Leader Nan\u00adcy Pelosi, her\u00adself a for\u00admer speak\u00ader, to declare on MSNBC<\/span> that if Boehn\u00ader were a woman, he would be known as the weak\u00adest speak\u00ader in U.S. his\u00adto\u00adry<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouch. These crit\u00adi\u00adcisms of the Speak\u00ader are not entire\u00adly fair. From the begin\u00adning, Boehn\u00ader has made it clear that he want\u00aded to break from the recent tra\u00addi\u00adtion of heavy-hand\u00aded Speak\u00aders<\/a> that ran from Newt Gin\u00adgrich to Den\u00adny Hastert (backed by the iron hand of Tom DeLay) to Nan\u00adcy Pelosi. All cen\u00adtral\u00adized pow\u00ader in the office of the Speak\u00ader at the expense of com\u00admit\u00adtee chair\u00admen and rank-and-file mem\u00adbers. All met with dis\u00adas\u00adter \u2013 Gin\u00adgrich was oust\u00aded by his par\u00adty just weeks after his sin\u00adgle-mind\u00aded focus on impeach\u00adment hurt his par\u00adty at the polls, while Hastert and Pelosi had their tenures as Speak\u00ader cut short by over\u00adwhelm\u00ading loss\u00ades in mid-term elec\u00adtions. Boehn\u00ader has employed a delib\u00ader\u00adate\u00adly lighter touch.<\/p>\n

Still, results mat\u00adter more than style and, so far, those results have been unim\u00adpres\u00adsive. The Speak\u00ader has failed to nego\u00adti\u00adate a \u201cgrand bar\u00adgain\u201d on the bud\u00adget with the Pres\u00adi\u00addent, failed to orga\u00adnize his mem\u00adbers behind a strat\u00ade\u00adgy to slow or even impede the imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion of the health care law, and has strug\u00adgled, often with\u00adout suc\u00adcess, to keep his par\u00adty focused and unit\u00aded. His biggest achieve\u00adment in 2013 was his fail\u00adure to craft any alter\u00adna\u00adtive to seques\u00adtra\u00adtion, some\u00adthing that has result\u00aded in a reduc\u00adtion in gov\u00adern\u00adment spend\u00ading while avoid\u00ading polit\u00adi\u00adcal harm, although the pol\u00adi\u00adcy of across-the-board cuts in mil\u00adi\u00adtary and domes\u00adtic dis\u00adcre\u00adtionary spend\u00ading itself is hard\u00adly his party\u2019s preference.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s fail\u00adures so far this year are leg\u00adendary \u2013 his pro\u00adpos\u00adal to ban \u201cassault weapons\u201d gar\u00adnered just 40 votes in a body where his par\u00adty holds 55 seats, his efforts first to undo seques\u00adtra\u00adtion and then to blame Repub\u00adli\u00adcans for its con\u00adse\u00adquences have fall\u00aden flat, and his bud\u00adget, which arrived two months late, has large\u00adly been ignored.<\/p>\n

His expla\u00adna\u00adtion for those fail\u00adures would make Andreot\u00adti cringe. Unem\u00adploy\u00adment remains high because of his pre\u00adde\u00adces\u00adsor<\/a>,<\/span> he failed on gun con\u00adtrol because of the NRA<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> he can\u2019t advance his broad\u00ader leg\u00adisla\u00adtive agen\u00adda because of Rush Lim\u00adbaugh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just as the Pres\u00adi\u00addent blames Rush Lim\u00adbaugh, the Speak\u00ader blames the Pres\u00adi\u00addent<\/a> both for the nation\u2019s woes and for Congress\u2019s inabil\u00adi\u00adty to relieve them. Both bend beneath the bur\u00adden of pow\u00ader, unable to wield it effec\u00adtive\u00adly. So both focus on the next elec\u00adtion<\/a>,<\/span> when they imag\u00adine that they will acquire the pow\u00ader that they now believe eludes them.<\/p>\n

Andreot\u00adti would like\u00adly remind them that they have pow\u00ader now, that it won\u2019t last for\u00adev\u00ader, and that its weight doesn\u2019t com\u00adpare with the bur\u00adden of its loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c<\/span>Pow\u00ader only bur\u00addens those who don\u2019t pos\u00adsess it.\u201d So said the late Ital\u00adian prime min\u00adis\u00adter Giulio Andreot\u00adti. His words seem espe\u00adcial\u00adly apt for Wash\u00ading\u00adton today. Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18,206,19],"tags":[204,193,186,187,200,202,184,36,118,195,185,188,190,191,196,198,194,197,199,47,189,205,203,192,201],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-partisanship","category-politics","tag-assault-weapons","tag-barry-bonds","tag-boehner","tag-christian-democratic-party","tag-denny-hastert","tag-grand-bargain","tag-guilio-andreotti","tag-health-care-law","tag-house-republicans","tag-house-speaker","tag-italian-prime-minister","tag-mafia","tag-mafiosi","tag-mani-pulite","tag-minority-leader","tag-msnbc","tag-mussolini","tag-nancy-pelosi","tag-newt-gingrich","tag-obama","tag-organized-crime","tag-rush-limbaugh","tag-sequestration-2","tag-silvio-berlusconi","tag-tom-delay"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t