I recently got some validation for your statement that America is admired most for our progressivism, and not at all for our relatively recent conservatism. Friday I took the train from San Jose to Sacramento, and in Berkeley a young woman from Norway boarded the train and sat with me. She's a student at UC Berkeley, majoring in sociology, planning to be a journalist, and had all that puppyish idealism and enthusiasm that makes the young'uns so adorable.

The upshot of her view of America is that the Sixties were our intellectual golden age, when we led the world into progressive ideas, and that much of the current enthusiasm for Obama is that he promises something of a return to that golden age. In other words, the European view is that our sharp turn to the right in recent decades is an aberration, and that when we return to liberalism, we return to our proper roots...and to the things that, in their opinion, made America a great nation in the first place.

I know that bringing up the opinion of a European is like waving a red flag in front of the winger bulls. Yet, it was clear that, despite the hysterical ravings of wingers about how all the world hates us, in fact Europeans, at least, want very much for us to succeed, and want very much for us to return to the position of moral leadership we once held. They want us to be as good as we once were, and despite everything, haven't given up on us. It was heartening to spend a couple of hours talking to this young lady.

With nations as with people, your true friends are the ones that tell you the unvarnished truth, not the people who kiss your ass. European criticism of America is well-intentioned and sincere. Considering how well they've done carrying on and expanding upon our ideas and ideals, we should pay attention. It wouldn't be the first time that the pupil has surpassed the teacher.