Playboy, Prime Minister or Pop Idol? Silvio Berlusconi

Who is Silvio Berlusconi, the man known in his country as Il Cavaliere? Well, wikipedia describes him as "an Italian politician, entrepreneur, real estate and insurance tycoon, bank and media proprietor, sports team owner and songwriter." Quite an impressive list. On three separate occasions he has been the Prime Minister of Italy. He has been married twice and has children with three different women. His recurring role as PM is a symbolic expression of the "you love him, you hate him "attitude many have for Mr. Berlusconi, including myself.

Where does one begin with Silvio? His numerous marriages and trials? His multi-billion dollar empire? Or his numerous gaffes on the international stage?

His most recent divorce to former actress Veronica Lario is a good starting point. According to his ex-wife's best friends newly publish biography; Silvio and his wife had an agreement regarding his extra marital affairs. However, Ms.Lario perceived Silvio as crossing the line when he was spotted at the birthday of an 18-year-old lingerie model. Since April, the Prime Minister has been busy with scandals. A high-end escort claims she slept with him at his mansion in Rome, while a photo of topless young women at his villa in Sardinia have surfaced. Yet he still has an approval rating of 63%. Besides his actions regarding women, his words might speak louder. When a female student asked him for advice on her financial troubles, he jokingly told her to marry a rich man like his son. His view of the opposite sex can be described as slightly chauvinistic. He claimed his left-winged female opponents were uglier than their right wing counterparts, yowzas.

Throughout his career Silvio has been dogged by charges of corruption having survived 12 cases against him. He recently put a law into place protecting himself and the other top three political posts in his country from court persecution; this law has just been overturned by the courts. His original rise in power and wealth is spotted with allegations of corruption and mafia involvement. From his initial success in real estate to his current holdings of roughly 90% of the national television broadcasting in Italy, former mafia member's and informants claim he has ties to the mob, most notably the powerful Cosa Nostra.

On the international stage, the Queen of England scolded him for "being too loud" at the G-20 summit. He has also openly called President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama very tanned. Regarding his court battles, in what can be described a Freudian slip, he complained on how he has spent hundreds of millions of Euros on judges and lawyers, before correcting himself as he meant to say consultants and lawyers.

Berlusconi is powerful, handsome, funny, rich and supposedly happy. How can't you like him? He has ties to the mafia, corruption charges and using his office for personal gain-so what? Slick Willie Clinton got a hummer in the oval office, oil baron Dubya invaded Iraq and Monsieur Chretien was always using the office of the Prime minister to help out his buddies. It is kind of like a Michael Jackson syndrome, he is Whacko Jacko, dangling babies out of his apartment, setting his hair on fire and sleeping with minors. We don't really take him seriously but we love him. The argument can be made MJ was an entertainer and Il Cavaliere is a head of state. This is true, but who said politics has to be boring? Maybe the time of the exciting, sexy, controversial head of state has passed us by in North America. We had JFK in America with Marilyn Monroe and Sinatra; in Canada we had Pierre E.Trudeau. Both are immortalized in their respective countries. Perhaps in the future the same will be said of Il Cavaliere.