The cleverness of Obama cannot hide that his interest in europe is minimal, and interest in Germany as well. Somebody should tell him that demanding more support from europe is one thing - but cloathing it into a comment that he recently made that if NATO would send more troops to Afghanistan, america could withdraw more soldiers form there, save money and turn it into tax reliefs for americans is a very stupid thing. that could make him a persona non grata in quick time over here.
Nor is McCain'S aid's recent offending of Germans in general in reaction to Obama's trip any helpful in making him a more respectable figure over here. If I would have said something like that about Americans, I would have had trouble with a mod now.
And his respectability already scores very low over here, not even one in ten sympathises with him.
Not that it means something for american voters. But a next US president wanting something from europe better performs much better in diplomatic behavior than Bush did.