Silvio's latest "gaffe" OK with Italians

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"Visiting one of the many tented encampments that have sprung up around the devastated city of L'Aquila since Monday's catastrophic advice, the Italian prime minister offered this cheery assurance to traumatised survivors. "They have everything they need, they have medical care, hot food... of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. But they should see it like a weekend of camping," he said.

While the foreign press leapt on the comment as yet another faux pas, it went virtually ignored by the Italian media...

But even among the victims of the earthquake, who have lost their homes and businesses and seen the dust-covered corpses of family and friends pulled from the tangled debris of collapsed buildings, there were many who said "Il Cavaliere" was simply trying to take some of the trauma out of their situation.

So far from being a Hurricane Katrina-style embarrassment, the premier's handling of the earthquake may instead come to be seen as his 9-11 moment... Italians have praised the speed with which he swung into action after the quake reduced the medieval city of L'Aquila, and more than a dozen surrounding villages of timber and stone, to rubble. They were impressed when the 72-year-old media mogul claimed this week that, after visiting the mangled epicentre of the quake three times in three days, he had not slept for 44 hours – "not bad for a 35-year-old man like me."

Again, the backslapping bonhomie and cheeky display of vanity. This time it did not backfire – the prime minister exchanged high fives with cheering onlookers. "Even in a tragedy like this, you need to know how to smile," he said, and the Italian press loved it.

"Berlusconi is very popular," said an Italian pollster, Renato Mannheimer. "He has an ability to create a direct rapport with the population. This is an ongoing process and is triumphing at the moment." With his embracing of quake victims and I-feel-your-pain display of empathy, Mr Berlusconi seems to have successfully cast himself as the benevolent father of the nation.

So the earthquake will only boost Mr Berlusconi's already healthy popularity ratings – independent polls put him at over 50 per cent, way ahead of the divided and demoralised centre-left.

The outside world may regard Mr Berlusconi as a figure of fun, an unwitting clown who brightens up the grey world of international statesmanship, but to foreigners' consternation he keeps getting elected.

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