You Have Found America!

"Hai trovato America!" is an expression Italians use when someone strikes it lucky.

As an example: A friend found a stray dog wandering near her house in the Tuscan countryside. It was matted, full of ticks and fleas. My friend took her to the vet and said to do everything necessary to bring the dog back to health. The vet exclaimed, "Il canino ha trovata America!" (The little dog has found America).

Since the turn of the 20th century, Italians have viewed America as a golden place where one could go and start a new life. It was possible for an illiterate peasant from Calabria to emigrate, start a business, send for his family, support those left behind, and raise his children to be American doctors and lawyers. This optimistic picture is one that lies deep in the Italian view of the United States.

An Italian friend tells me, "America has always been everything to us. Our ancestors went there for a better life, you liberated us during World War II, we love the music, the way of life, the friendliness, the movies, the big spaces. It is every Italian's dream to visit America."

Except, that friend continues, "E' sembra che America ha perso la via" (It seems America has lost the way).

I've been in a small Tuscan village during the dramatic deficit showdown, arguments over the legality of Obama's health care, and the rise of (gulp) Michelle Bachmann. Throw in the three continuing wars, too. It isn't obvious the people of this small paese would be paying attention, but nearly every day someone asks me why things are so bad in the States. I should emphasize they asked the same question during the Bush years.

The difference is they considered Bush truly dangerous and they generally like Obama. After his election, their usually positive view of America, lost during the Bush years, was restored overnight. They grasp "i suoi nemici lo vogliono a faillire" (his enemies want him to fail) but do not understand why he was "non piu forte" (not stronger) during the battle of the budget when he had the authority to use a big club. I tell them even his diehard supporters are at a loss to explain some of his actions.

They are worried because "che accede in America colpisce il mondo" (what happens in America affects the world). Obama needs "meno cerebrale e piu' muscoli" (less brain and more brawn), they say. They know he has strength because he defeated the Clinton machine to become our first black president, and he, not Bush, can take credit for tracking down Osama bin Laden, but then "cosa gli e' successo" (what happened to him)?

At dinner with Italian friends recently, one told me that for her, the hardest thing to understand is the lack of American health care and the opposition to providing it. She works in a hospital and can not comprehend how even dying people can be turned away from many hospitals in the States if they have no insurance. She knows Obama has passed a health care bill and finds it inconceivable that there is a movement to reverse it. "I would not like to live in a country like that. E' senza cuore (It is heartless). We have many problems here in Italy but at least we take care of our sick people. What kind of country won't do that?"

The only riposta (response) I have found is "non so" (I don't know).