Napolitano's inaugural speech

Interesting to check out the reactions to Giorgio Napolitano's speech to Parliament today (speech available at the Quirinale site). For the left, Alleanza Nazionale, and the UDC, the speech was good. For Forza Italia and the Lega, it was product of a "dated culture" (Sandro Bondi), or, worse, a deliberate slight to the centre-right in its omission of thanks to the outgoing government (Renato Schifani, Forza capogruppo in the Senate).

Personally, I thought it was open enough to the right to assuage the fears of the forzisti, particularly on the right's proposed constitutional amendments. There was a nice quote from the debates of the Constituent Assembly; the framers sought to

tutelare le esigenze di stabilità dell'azione di governo e di evitare le degenerazioni del parlamentarismo

which sounds like a nice retcon of what the right sought to do.

Oh, and Italian newspapers - or at least Repubblica - also use the ridiculous American habit of measuring the success of a speech by the number of applause interruptions.