Aragorn
11-07-2008, 10:10 PM
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has dismissed criticism of his description of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama as "tanned" and walked out of a news conference after blasting a journalist who pressed him on the issue.
Berlusconi appeared annoyed after a Friday summit of European Union leaders when reporters questioned him about the possible political fallout of the comments he made Thursday in Russia.
The outspoken Italian leader appeared to be joking when he said Obama "has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."
Berlusconi later said the remark was meant to be "cute" and called those who disagreed "imbeciles, of which there are too many."
Berlusconi, 72, is infamous for eyebrow-raising comments.
He once compared a German lawmaker to a Nazi camp guard and asserted after the September 11 terror attacks that Western civilization was superior to Islam.
More recently, he said the new Spanish government had too many women.
Italy's only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called Thursday's comment embarrassing.
"In the United States, a joke like that wouldn't just be politically incorrect, but a great offense to this amazing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example," Touadi said.http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/07/berlusconi/index.html
Berlusconi appeared annoyed after a Friday summit of European Union leaders when reporters questioned him about the possible political fallout of the comments he made Thursday in Russia.
The outspoken Italian leader appeared to be joking when he said Obama "has everything needed in order to reach deals with him: he's young, handsome and even tanned."
Berlusconi later said the remark was meant to be "cute" and called those who disagreed "imbeciles, of which there are too many."
Berlusconi, 72, is infamous for eyebrow-raising comments.
He once compared a German lawmaker to a Nazi camp guard and asserted after the September 11 terror attacks that Western civilization was superior to Islam.
More recently, he said the new Spanish government had too many women.
Italy's only black lawmaker, Jean-Leonard Touadi, called Thursday's comment embarrassing.
"In the United States, a joke like that wouldn't just be politically incorrect, but a great offense to this amazing example of integration, which it seems the Italian premier should take as an example," Touadi said.http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/07/berlusconi/index.html