Europe and "white guilt"

[Middle-aged Europe]

I doubt that Obama would manage to get elected in an European country right now. For starters, he hasn't closed Guantanamo. And he's persecuting WikiLeaks of course. However, if given the choice between only him and any generic Republican, he'd win by a wide margin.

His minority status could constitute a problem in certain countries, like the aforementioned Eastern European example. Not so much in Western/Northern Europe though (as was recently discussed in the German state election thread, there's a small window for electing a certain Chancellor of Turkish descent in 2013 ).

[Middle-aged Europe]

Does Sarkozy count as a "minority candidate"?

Or is this limited to politicians of non-European (and/or non-Christian) descent?

[Middle-aged Europe]

Well, the German Greens don't have membership cards either.

With joining the party, you're added to their internal mailing lists (which you're free to unsubscribe) and your bank account is debited with the monthly membership fee (the exact amount of your membership fee is determined by yourself). That's basically it.

Internal votings are also handled somewhat... lax. Technically, any person is allowed to vote there, even non-members. To achieve this, they devised a somewhat complexer process which bends the law without actually breaking it (at least I hope so). Maybe I should stop writing now, otherwise I could get them into trouble.