Why are Germans so desperate for American acknowledgement?

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Why are Germans so desperate for American acknowledgement?

Is it related to the fact that German posters on /int/ are undeniably the most racist and Ameriphobic?

>If you want to keep up with U.S. domestic news, you should probably come to Europe.

>When I moved back to Germany a few months ago, I was surprised to find out that even things that nobody seemed to care about in North America made it onto front pages here. When there's a shooting in the U.S., editors in Germany go into breaking news mode, even though the story probably won't ever make it onto most American newscasts.

>It's a bizarre obsession: European (and particularly German) media spend more time reporting on and from the U.S. than from neighboring countries, including France and Britain.

>Europeans often blame Americans for being obsessed with themselves, so why all the attention in Germany?

>For the Germans, it's a love-hate relationship

>Here's one example: When the New York Times recently wrote a piece about the Berlin district of Wedding, German media went in overdrive, with commentators questioning whether the newspaper was correct in portraying the local district as up-and-coming. But the undertone seemed clear: "Wow, even the U.S. likes Wedding!"

>Americans didn't actually care, of course. The daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung later asked its readers in a moment of self-reflection: "American journalists praise Munich and Frankfurt, and now Berlin-Wedding -- and everyone is going crazy. But why?"

>German journalists in particular don't usually spare an opportunity to comment negatively on U.S. society and politics -- yet, many of them seem to crave signs of approval from the U.S. "Germans see the U.S. almost as their father," says Timo Lochocki, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a transatlantic think tank. "It's almost schizophrenic: They want to be admired by the U.S., but do everything to distance themselves from Americans."

Apparently Germans think Obama is their daddy?