The American Friend

With the strength he, himself, radiates and the incomparable prestige of the nation he represents, Barack Obama told Italy that we still have a place at the table of the countries that aspire to rule the world. This is cash for our country, the Berlusconi government and the future Italian governments, on the first, decisive day of the G8, that Italy can keep in the bank, like capital that can be invested over the next four or eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency.

There was no need for the New York Times to ask him to take the reins of this edition of the G8; since first stepping foot in Italy, it was clear who is the sun around whom the entire so-called “Western” system rotates and who is tolerated or suffered by the rest of the world – for now, including China – given the rushed departure of President Hu Jintoa, a justified absence. Having demonstrated marvelous industrial and economic growth, as President [Georgio] Napolitano politely noted, civil vulnerability and incompleteness limits the capacity for international leadership.

If the G8, itself, as an institution, has long been an incurably obsolete organism that cannot be rejuvenated – even when played like an accordion that expands and contracts – the controversy over the “agenda”, the work of note takers, the so-called “sherpa” who churn out announcements, does not change the basic truth: Because the G8 exists and until something less bulky and complicated is created, it is better to stay involved, rather than stay out.

And for the smallest among the large, like Italy, it is essential to participate with dignity and elegance, without being exposed to the sarcasm of those – we must remember – like the British and French, who, in 1975, had to be persuaded by President Gerald Ford to add a place at the table of the group for Aldo Moro, who was our premier.

There weren’t any unexpected accomplishments – there never are in these summits – on climate, Iran or the governance of the worldwide economy that might lead, even in this case, to a return to reasonable “regulation” and public supervision, already expressed in other meetings and presented in advance by Obama in his suggestions to the Congress, to restore the financial market and give disciplinary powers to the Fed, the central bank. The season of Bush, the time of wild horses, is over.

Instead, we had confirmation, so important in these turbulent times, of the classic choice of every American administration since World War II: to see beyond the winds of Italian policy and support the government that Italians, themselves, choose, without judging, without public intervention. In exchange, as Obama said in a solemn compliment, praising President Napolitano, “integrity” is required of those nations that want to remain as partners in the club of democracy.

Yesterday, a classic, familiar attitude allowed Obama to offer his gratitude to Silvio Berlusconi, our representative, and allowed the Italian premier to accept the gratitude of Bush’s successor, even though he had been very close to the previous president. But the U.S. is not resentful and doesn’t take things personally; as English Prime Minister Lord Palmerston remembered, nations don’t have permanent friends, just permanent interests. It is in their interest and in our interest to maintain a solid and stable relationship between Moscow and Washington, as this G8 did, through the traditional “convergence of points of view.”

The fact that the U.S. is the hub of the wheel of this tired, informal institution called the G8 was particularly evident in this 2009 edition. It was because of the debut of an American president, who had been anticipated in a way that hadn’t happened since Ronald Reagan in 1981. The immense, genuine and international popularity of Obama, the triumphant electoral victory that gave him a solid legitimacy never attained by Clinton (He barely won with a relative majority in 1992, and certainly not by Bush the Second, thanks to a scandalous election.) make him the “leader of the leaders.”