Il youthfulness elevated to a new political category is reaching grotesque levels even in the Democratic Party. And in these hours you can see the last pyrotechnic demonstrations. It will be the Renzi effect or it will be the long wave of grillism, but the fact is that - instead of facing openly the problems and political strategies on the basis of which to promote the renewal of the political class and build the Italy of the future - even a sensible person like the secretary of the Democratic Party, Pierluigi Bersani chooses the populist shortcut of youthfulness to say no in a Jesuit way to the re-nomination of former prime minister Massimo D'Alema. It had never been seen that the selection of the ruling political class took place not on the basis of content and personal skills but solely on the basis of the registry office. It would be like imagining that on Sundays a reader would no longer buy "La Repubblica" because there is the editorial by Eugenio Scalfari, who is a master of journalism but has the mistake of being over eighty. Giorgio Napolitano and Mario Monti have long since entered old age and yet they are political and institutional leaders that the whole world envies us. In politics as in life, quality has no age. Sacrosanct to make room for young people, but for merit not for the identity card.
Let me be clear: up D'Alema there may have a thousand political and personal reservations and that glitter in his political curriculum is not all gold. One example above all: when, at the end of the 90s, he became president of the Council, he showed the courage of a lion by supporting – he was the first ex-communist to take office in Palazzo Chigi – the Italian expedition to Kosovo and thus avoiding an assured genocide. But even today the support that D'Alema gave to the Telecom takeover bid by the Colaninnos and above all by the financial adventurers like Gnutti who - with thesupport from the Mediobanca parlour – climbed the major Italian telephone company into debt, however, bringing it to ruin due to the enormity of the debts that were dumped on it.
But this is not the point: one can very well say no to D'Alema and invite him not to run again for Parliament but on the basis of precise political contents and not based on ID or to parliamentary seniority. Assuming youthfulness as a political compass means hiding one's head in the sand and fearing real political confrontation. In the previous elections both Walter Veltroni and Antonio Di Pietro, at desperate hunt for new faces, had the misfortune to present Calearo and Scilipoti as emblems of renewal: do they want to continue with the rhetoric of newism? In this case, Bersani thinks that put the miniskirt of youthfulness either a way to counter the offensive by Renzi's scrappers – another that certainly doesn't shine for the rigor and clarity of the political contents – or to curb Vendola's pressing from the left, who doesn't want alliances with the center but pretends to forget that his re-election as Governor of Puglia is due to the political pact between D'Alema and Casini which led to the presentation of the regional list of Poli Bortone, decisive for sinking the PDL and paving the way for Vendola's victory.
In front of the magmatic confusion reigning left, Bersani shows all his weakness as happened to him last week when, in the Pd-Sel-Psi intent card, did not have the courage to thank Mario Monti for saving us from bankruptcy not to displease vendola. Now with D'Alema the secretary offers the worst of the Jesuitism: he will not ask him to reapply but will refer the question to the party.
This is not what citizens and voters are asking for. From a force that is a candidate to govern the country after Berlusconi's disasters and Bossi's drunkenness, Italians have the right to hear clear words and messages: changing men is important but wisdom and political foresight come first. The discriminating factor is this: how it is intended and with whom to govern the Italy of the future.
Is it possible that Berlusconi's political adventure taught us nothing? You can win an election by selling smoke, but it's difficult to govern. And the registry office doesn't help.
