Back in the jungle..

Back in the press jungle..trying to understand what's going on the politics front..analyzing different newspapers and focusing on specific issues..

The most authoritative newspaper in Italy, namely the Corriere della Sera, focuses its articles in its section "Politics" on the lean presence of women in the current Italian campaign. What a difference with the United States (if we can venture to make a comparison between the two countries..), where a woman appears strong enough to lead a huge and powerful country! According to the journalist Maria Laura Rodotà (link to the article), the few women who're actually taking part in the campaign have not gone up in the voters' estimation: as they do not appear as potential leaders, Italians are seemingly going to prefer a male candidate.. once more, achieving a role in Italian politics is quite hard for women..

Surfing on the website of the Corriere della Sera I had a look at the results of some opinion surveys: according to a recent poll, for instance, Italian young people are going to cast more votes to the Partito Democratico (31,4%), followed by the Partito delle Libertà (21,7%) and Lega Nord (15,2 %). This result could also be linked to the increased popularity of Walter Veltroni (the leader of the Pd) who, according to another survey, seems to inspire more confidence than his competitor Silvio Berlusconi (the leader of the Pdl): 50% of preference vs 41%, without taking into account the political predisposition of the interviewees.

Even though all the newspapers I visted offer articles on several issues (from the campaign most urgent themes to the problems and doubts connected to the current electoral system..), on these very last days almost all of them focus on two main themes:

1. the Alitalia affair: the crisis involving the Italian national airline company takes nuances of a political debate. Berlusconi has namely urged a national group formed by Italian companies and banks, as well as his own children, to join a rescue operation. However, as the newspaper Repubblica suggests, nothing is really sure about that yet, since Italian companies seem to take their distance from this initiative. All this is giving rise to debates on the political level: while Berlusconi seems to present himself as the potential "rescuer" of Alitalia, his competitors harshly criticize his conduct, claiming that he revealed the names of some Italian companies which would take part in the operation, even though these companies had not given their consent at all. Once more, politics is to be found everywhere..

2. debates on Tv between the candidates: "face to face" discussions are much talked of on these last days, since they increase polemics. If Berlusconi refuses to participate to a Tv program, according to the rule of fairness in political campaign, his competitor has to stay at home as well. Ok, that's fair..but why do we still need to argue about that?! Much ado about nothing..

News from the Usa, in brief..

The New York Times reports an interview with Hillary Clinton on the urgent theme of health care costs: if elected, the ex First Lady would reduce the cost of health insurance to no more than 10% of American's income, some policies now costing even more than 16% of median income.

Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008 is still at the core of some articles both in the New York Times and Usa Today: this speech was seen as necessary after the anti-American remarks by Obama's former pastor, Rev. Wright. In his speech, the Democratic candidate criticizes the pastor's incendiary remarks and tries to put the issue behind him.

More on the USA elections: according to the german newspaper die Zeit the Republican candidate McCain could take advantage from the Obama/Clinton opposition, since 28% of Hillary's supporters would cast their votes to MacCain instead of voting Obama. If they were to choose between Hillary and her Republican rival, 19% of Obama's supporters would do the same by voting the latter.

Uff..isn't it a jungle??!!