If the election of the American President always attracts world attention, the interest raised by the 2008 vote was particularly intense, to the point of a near “dis-Americanization” of the issues at stake in Europe. During the campaign, the media in Europe often seemed to be oblivious to the fact that the primary purpose of the ballot was to decide who would be the leader of a country in a strictly national competition. Obviously, there was more to the American elections than just simply an American dispute. The elections happened at the crossroads of two dramatically changing situations : the weakening of the American leadership in the world hampered by a US foreign policy often considered wrong or at least regarded as dangerously inefficient and, eventually, by a looming global economic crisis ; and shifting national stage, brought on by the appearance of two historically unusual candidates of the Democratic Party. With Hillary Clinton, a female senator and former First Lady, and Barack Obama, an African American senator who was virtually unknown abroad, as the two potential Democratic candidates running against a Republican party choosing a well-experienced and apparently classic American hero, the political choice was made iconic : gender difference, race difference, education difference, everything was embodying the local political conflict into a global narrative.

Beyond actual speeches and declarations, the opposition between the parties could be viewed as the alternative between change and what could labelled as “politics as usual,” which John McCain could unfortunately not help but represent. This global narrative was to seduce an initially incredulous Europe. It reached its peak when Barack Obama secured the Democratic primary elections and became the leading Democratic candidate against John McCain. It made him, even before his final victory, a “world icon” as it has often been said, and the election a world phenomenon. Suddenly what was a local electoral sound bite—change can happen—was believed by millions of non-Americans making the 2008 elections the first globalized elections in history.