For Columbus Day, a Fond 'Arrivederci'

P resident Bush has hosted a parade of friendly foreign leaders at the White House over the past month, but today he welcomes perhaps one of his closest overseas buddies: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusco ni.

The meeting is likely to be a warm one. During a visit by Bush to Rome in June, the two leaders showered each other with praise during a gregarious news conference at a Renaissance villa.

The charismatic Berlusconi -- a media tycoon who was booted out of office in 2006, only to reclaim power in May -- was the first European leader to back the Iraq war and has remained stalwart in support of Bush despite the U.S. president's deep unpopularity in Italy. Berlusconi has even suggested that Bush could be a visiting professor at a university he has proposed.

"I have gotten to know President Bush very well," Berlusconi said in June. "I consider him to be a very close friend, a very unique person. . . . He's always shown that he has been able to be very close to those friends of his who have shared his ideals."

Bush and first lady Laura Bush are returning the favor by arranging today's Columbus Day visit to the White House. After an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, the two leaders will share a news conference, a meeting in the Oval Office and an official dinner in the State Dining Room.

Julianne Smith, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the relationship is on par with Bush's close ties to former British prime minister Tony Blair.

"They've had moments where they've disagreed," Smith said. "But by and large, Berlusconi is with Bush, and they see the world much the same way. . . . I'm sure it will be a nice farewell."

Alas, the widening financial panic is likely to intrude. Berlusconi caused a small international incident Friday when he suggested that world leaders might consider closing financial markets in response to the meltdown; he said later in the day that he was only referring to rumors he heard on the radio.

Sunshine and Votes

While John McCain and Barack Obama continue to battle for votes in hotly contested Florida, Bush traveled to the Sunshine State on Friday for a closed GOP fundraiser and to meet with a dozen Cuban American activists.

The gathering at Havana Harry's in Miami was labeled as official, rather than political, business. Bush, who has tended to the GOP's Cuban exile base in South Florida since the 2000 election, told the activists that his administration would continue to hold the line on its strict Cuban trade and travel embargo.

"Our government has been very clear about our strategy, and that is, is that we will change the embargo strategy only when the government of Cuba lets the people of Cuba express themselves freely," Bush said.

But the political landscape in South Florida has been shifting in recent years, and Democrats have hopes that they can draw some Cuban Americans away from the Republican Party, in part because of Bush's hard-line embargo policy.