A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Berlusconi was interviewed today by Lucia Annunziata on a TV program, “half hour”, similar to the US “sixty minutes”. A single guest, being interviewed by the host.

Annunziata is not the typical accommodating journalist Berlusconi chooses for his externations. She makes questions, tough ones at times, and demands answers. Berlusconi, on the other hand, is accustomed to friendlly interviewers -he usually chooses the ones he wants, as well as the cameramen and the whole recording staff- who give him the time to talk of what he wants for ten minutes at a time without daring to interrupt him. So today, being pressed by Annunziata it was not very hard for Berlusconi to find a way to feel insulted, and create the situation to leave the stage in rage.

I read the news this way because I have a high esteem of Berlusconi’s strategical ability to make the headlines the way he wants. Plus, he is a notorious cry-baby. Thus it is not hard to imagine a premeditation - manipulating Annunziata into getting slightly more inquisitive than she should have, and take the occasion to first threaten to leave - a sure way to create tension - and then leave in rage, accusing the host of being a communist.

However, it is quite possible that indeed Berlusconi’s nerves played him a trick. The electoral campaign is in full swing and despite the millions of euros spent in posters, ads, mediatic campaigns and mercenaries, his coalition only gained a third of the distance in trailing points from Prodi’s alliance.

It would be quite interesting to know whether incidents such as that of today with Annunziata will end up playing in favor of the right -through the exploitation of yet another way to divert discussion from the critical points: economy, salaries, employment- or whether they have the opposite effect. But polls are not so accurate to be trusted that much.