On that note...

A great photo of new President-elect Barack Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy, with the caption "It's like we went away for the summer and lost all the weight and got contacts! And also a tan." -- the accompaniment to a hilarious post-election article from New York Mag on why Europe is finally jealous of America.

On a similar note to last week's op-ed post on what having Obama as president will mean to the rest of the world...
Days after Obama's landslide victory, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi responds:

Italians never quite know whether to laugh or cry at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But many reacted with incredulity and outrage after the prime minister, visiting Moscow on Thursday, amiably called the first African-American president-elect in United States history “young, handsome and suntanned.” Mr. Berlusconi made the remark while meeting President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s good looks, his youth and his so-called suntan were “all the qualities” for Mr. Medvedev and the future president to “develop a good working relationship.”

While the comments may seem over the top offensive, Italy is used to this. Frankly, I was surprised the article painted Italians as "uproared" over this, since not only is Berlusconi famous for his outrageously inappropriate commentary and demeanor, but they KEEP ELECTING HIM. OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Economists gauged at their last election in April 2008 that if Berlusconi was reelected over sitting Prime Minister Romano Prodi, the country of Italy as we know it will have economically and socially collapsed within ten years.

[Berlusconi] said that his remark had been “a compliment” and that his critics lacked irony. “If you want to get a degree in idiocy, I won’t stop you,” La Repubblica quoted him as saying. “I say whatever I think.” He said the Italian left was wrong about everything, “including their lack of a sense of humor.” He added: “Too bad for them. God save us from imbecils."

Amen.