By Ken Weisbrode, Fellow European University Institute

Despite the great deal of media and popular attention to Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, there were relatively few efforts in Italy where Americans and Italians together examined the profound and historic nature of this particular election.

New York University at La Pietra held one such event on November 23. It featured a rich and diverse group of speakers from both sides of the Atlantic, including prominent academics, journalists and professional political consultants. It attracted a large audience of NYU students and other local residents. Speakers included the American political consultant Bob Shrum, a senior fellow at NYU who managed several presidential campaigns; chief political correspondent of the New York Times, Adam Nagourney; Roberto D’Alimonte, professor of political science at NYU in Florence and the University of Florence and Mario Calabresi, New York correspondent of La Repubblica, as well as several professors from NYU and the European University Institute.

The discussion in the three panels centered not only upon the details of the election—namely how Obama won—but also on the wider significance of his victory on both American politics and American foreign policy. Other topics included the changing role of the main- stream media and the decline in its electoral influence; the different approaches of European and American journalists toward politicians (a few speakers suggested the Americans were more deferential); and variations in voting pat- terns, with some Europeans expressing consternation that economic inequality remained low on the list of priorities for American voters.

The spirit of the event was lively and very open. Perhaps this had much to do with Obama’s own victory and the great approval with which it was greeted throughout Europe. But it was helped considerably by the thoughtfulness, efficiency and good cheer of the event organizers and the participants.