The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has repeated his reference to Barack Obama's "tan" – and this time made a wisecrack about Michelle Obama's skin colour, too.
Berlusconi told a Milan rally of conservative supporters yesterday that he was bringing greetings from the United States from "What's his name? Some tanned guy. Ah, Barack Obama!"
He added: "You won't believe it, but two of them went to the beach, because the wife is also tanned."
Last week photographs showed Michelle Obama greeting many leaders at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh summit with a kiss but stiffly holding out her arm for a handshake when she came to greet Berlusconi.
Pictures show Berlusconi gazing at Mrs Obama's gown, instead of her face, and holding his arms out as if in delight at what he sees, while the US president looks on, apparently not amused.
Berlusconi has been on the defensive over a sex scandal that erupted last spring after his wife complained that the 72-year-old prime minister was infatuated with young women and announced she was divorcing him.
Prosecutors in the southern Italian city of Bari are investigating as a suspect in a cocaine investigation a local businessman who has said he sent some 30 young women to dinners and parties at Berlusconi's Rome palazzo and Sardinian villa. The businessman told investigators he paid the women's expenses and in some cases extra money in case they had sex with the prime minister.
Berlusconi was unaware of these arrangements, the businessman said. The prime minister, who is not under investigation in the scandal, has denied ever paying for sex.
At yesterday's rally, Berlusconi also said that the cordial relationship between the US and Italy was intact. He delivered a backhanded compliment to the US president when referring to Obama's use of a teleprompter in public speeches: "He's not reckless like those of us who say what comes to mind. We all asked ourselves: 'Does he know what he's doing, or is he just someone who knows how to read well?'
"But he's all there, in a big way, and that should make us all happy and satisfied because we need the greatest democracy, the greatest country, to be in trustworthy hands," Berlusconi said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/28/obama-tan-berlusconi
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