Reuters

The Northern European famously says, "The situation is serious, but not hopeless." The Southern European sums up his attitude as, "The situation is hopeless, but not serious." The American? Well, I always appreciated Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson's observation (I paraphrase): Some problems don't get solved, they just go away.

Take the notorious ungovernability of Italy. After World War II one kept reading news headlines screaming, "Government Falls in Italy." (As the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto might say, "Look out below!") It sounded terrible, but all that really was happening was that the governing coalition was dissolving and a new one needed to be formed. Like ocean currents below the whitecaps, the actual administration of the state continued despite all the frothy turmoil at the top.

That is one of the curiosities of watching the Perils of Belusconi in Rome these days. It sounds ominous, but nothing much changes. What soap opera could compare with this saga? Premier Berlusconi has taken European insouciance over leaders' private sex lives (in contrast to supposed American puritanism) to new extremes. He not only survives revelations about a parade of mistresses, but it doesn't seem to matter that some of the young ladies are really young, like underage.

And yet he survives politically. The government does not fall. He does not fall.

Italy is ungovernable. As ever. And life goes on.