On September 14 Mr Obama summoned his top advisers for a rare crisis meeting in Chicago. He was down in the polls to Mr McCain, the nomination of Mrs Palin having breathed life into the Republican ticket. There was a sense that his campaign was listless, and that many voters had now found a compelling excuse not to vote for him. It was time to go on the offensive, Mr Obama said.

And then, the next morning, a financial and political earthquake struck, transforming the presidential race and Mr Obama’s fortunes. While news broke that Wall Street was in meltdown, Mr McCain was telling voters in Jacksonville, Florida: “The fundamentals of the economy are strong.” It was the turning point of the campaign. Mr McCain’s remarks were rushed into a speech Mr Obama was about to give in Colorado and by that night featured in a Democrat campaign ad.

The way the two candidates responded to the economic crisis also proved crucial. Mr Obama, long criticised as dispassionate, remained so. Suddenly, cool steadiness was attractive in a nation deeply insecure about itself. Mr McCain reacted impetuously. He announced that he was suspending his campaign and flew to Washington to broker a rescue package that in reality he was powerless to bring.

The stunt backfired. Mr Obama, for the first time since his convention, pulled ahead in the polls. America was a new country where the economy trumped all those wedge issues – guns, God, gays and race. It was, as Mr Obama now told rallies, the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Mr McCain was an out-of-touch extension of the Bush presidency.

Mrs Palin was also beginning to unravel. A series of excruciatingly inept interviews proved that she had been a rash choice and reinforced the perception that Mr McCain, at 72, would be an unsteady hand on the tiller. The final weeks of the campaign were, in many ways, a throwback to where it had begun. Mr Obama got his groove back. His speeches were uplifting once more, appealing to “better angels” and a sense of “higher purpose”.

Mr McCain appeared disorientated and his rallies began to give voice to the dark side of politics. His campaign lurched from theme to theme before finally deciding to cast Mr Obama as a socialist after Mr Obama’s encounter with a man the media dubbed Joe the Plumber. Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher was filmed asking what effect Mr Obama’s tax plans would have on his own plans to set up a plumbing business and was nonplussed by the answer of “spread the wealth”. His cause was seized upon by Mr McCain but it failed to make an impact.

Only at the end did Mr McCain recover the grace that once made him so attractive. “This is a special election,” he said. “I recognise the great significance it must have for African-Americans and the special pride they must be feeling tonight.”

For Mr Obama, his victory was a chance to reprise the speeches he gave four years earlier and in Iowa on January 3. A message had been sent to the world that his country could heal its differences. “It has been a long time in coming, but because of what you have done, this day, change has come to America.”

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