How should an Italian American react to this?
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Opinion: 
COMMENTING ON ITALIAN PEOPLE 

St. Augustine Record 
By Hansen Alexander 
Special to the Record
October 7, 2001 

Tomorrow's Columbus Day celebration will go forth undeterred by the 
fact that the Genoese mariner helped Spain, not Italy, stake a claim 
to the Americas. The holiday has come to celebrate that which is 
Italian, or more specifically, that which is southern Italian.

Most Italians who immigrated to the United States came in the late 
19th century and early 20th century and they came from southern 
Italy, a region that even today remains far poorer than the rest of 
the country. And so that which we think of as Italian in this 
country, tomato based foods like thin pizza, the notorious Mafia, 
poor fishermen like Joe DiMaggio's father, comes from southern Italy.

There will be no emphasis tomorrow on recognizing northern Italian 
traditions, such as the industrial might of Milan, the intellectual 
heritage of its great universities at Bologna and Padua, or the 
breathtaking creative genius of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, 
Galileo, Dante, Bocaccio. No, tomorrow, unfortunately, will be about 
cheap wine and stereotypical visions of Italians as a congregation of 
vigilantes.

The appeal to Americans of Italians seems to be the notion that 
Italians, to use Hitler's rueful phrase, "would sell their country 
down the river to save their families." That is the idea that they 
get even with a personal vendetta rather than being shackled by the 
usual constraints of legal process. That no doubt accounts for the 
popularity of movies like The Godfather and the television 
series, "The Sopranos." It also seems to account for the results of a 
recent poll that showed that Americans would prefer being Italian 
more than any other ethnic group.

In a disturbing paradox, polls also show that Italian-Americans are 
the least trusted ethnic group to serve in leadership positions. That 
no doubt reflects the taint of the Mafia and is an unfair prejudice. 
But strategists of both major U.S. parties admit privately that they 
do not believe that an Italian-American, particularly one from the 
Northeast, could be elected president of the United States. And that 
is why many political analysts believe former New York Governor Mario 
Cuomo dropped out of the 1992 New Hampshire Primary literally hours 
before the filing deadline.

Discussing ethnic traits, of course, involves making generalizations 
about people, always a risky enterprise that can lead to unfair 
stereotypes. But man is a social animal. Therefore, family 
traditions, customs of cultures, are reflected in the personalities 
and accomplishments of people.

It is no accident that the great theoretical tract of Italian 
politics, Machiavelli's The Prince, is advice to rulers on executive 
action, not a polemic on democratic cooperation. Italian statesmen 
and Italian-American statesmen tend to make good leaders in positions 
where they can use their creativity and imagination to make tough 
decisions on their own.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's guarantee to "make the trains run 
on time" remains a metaphor for efficiency nearly 60 years after his 
death. Italian leaders tend to be authoritarian and individualistic.

They make good governors, good mayors and good judges in the United 
States.

They do not shine, however, in situations where leadership requires 
building a collegial consensus. For example, there has never been a 
speaker of the House or Senate majority leader of Italian heritage. 
Watergate produced New Jersey's Peter Rodino, who presided in 
impressive fashion over the House Judiciary Committee. But the other 
prominent Italian-American of the era, Judge John Sirica, served in 
more typical fashion as a federal judge in several trials of White 
House defendants.

Italians tend to be good speakers and good writers who are not 
bashful about extolling their own talents. They have trouble 
adjusting to the American political tradition of dumbing down. And 
they do not hesitate to put their Italian customs on a higher plane 
than more recent democratic traditions.

Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister of Italy in May. 
Berlusconi is already disliked throughout Europe for his heavy-handed 
style and tendency for making undiplomatic comments.

At a time in which President Bush has been bending over backwards to 
be cordial to the Islamic world in order to build a coalition to 
fight terrorism, Berlusconi said last week that Western civilization 
was superior to that of the Islamic world.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has demonstrated both his executive 
talents and authoritarian tendencies during and after the devastating 
disaster at the World Trade Center. Giuliani has handled the crisis 
with great competence and courage, reminding us of Churchill after 
the London Blitz as he walked through the rubble before the collapse 
of the second tower, literally risking his life. But now Giuliani is 
reluctant to give up power and so argues for extending his term.

Giuliani's mayoral role model, Fiorello La Guardia, was a one-man 
band, too.

Giuliani's whole career has been a demonstration of energetic 
accomplishment accompanied by heavy-handed methods and a fondness for 
New York's bright lights. When he was as a famous federal prosecutor 
he exhibited his white collar defendants before television cameras in 
handcuffs, an indignity almost never inflicted on white collar 
criminals. As mayor, he has demonstrated a fondness for executive 
orders, such as the present restriction on single-occupant cars into 
Manhattan, which do not require City Council approval. Faced with the 
political option last year of giving up the Italian tradition of 
having a mistress or staying in the U.S. Senate race against Hillary 
Clinton, Giuliani chose his mistress and openly flaunted her at 
official City Hall functions.

The greatest American orator of the last quarter century, Mario 
Cuomo, is mainly remembered today for feuding with fellow New York 
Democrats and a disinterest in rebuilding the party in New York State.

The one American who could probably match Cuomo's rhetorical skills 
is the Supreme Court's brilliant and pugnacious Italian-American 
conservative, Antonin Scalia. Scalia is obviously frustrated in a job 
where he has only one vote and openly insults the intelligence of his 
colleagues, particularly Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.