Daily Inspiration Quote by Silvio Berlusconi

Berlusconi’s line is less a tribute to George W. Bush than a translation of American power into a morally flattering job description. By calling U.S. foreign policy “the role of promoting freedom in the world,” he swaps out the hard nouns - war, leverage, interests, oil, alliances - for a single feel-good abstraction that sounds like destiny. That’s the rhetorical trick: make intervention read like obligation, and empire read like service.

The specific intent is alignment. As a European leader who often framed himself as a pragmatic dealmaker, Berlusconi uses the language of “freedom” to justify staying close to Washington, particularly in the post-9/11 era when “promotion” could mean Afghanistan, Iraq, and a broader doctrine of preemption. The wording “will keep up that policy” signals reassurance to both audiences: to Americans, that key allies won’t wobble; to Europeans, that the partnership is principled, not merely strategic.

The subtext is insurance. Berlusconi had every reason to prefer a high-minded story about U.S. leadership: it laundered messy coalition politics and deflected domestic skepticism about military commitments. “Role” is doing quiet work here too - it implies a script, a stage, a world that needs direction. In that frame, dissent becomes not disagreement about tactics but resistance to “freedom” itself.

Context matters because this was a moment when “freedom” was being sold as a foreign-policy brand. Berlusconi isn’t interrogating it; he’s amplifying it, betting that moral rhetoric can smooth over the costs that policy inevitably imposes.