Something I never thought of.
Yet having a common enemy in the Soviet Union misled some of us into thinking that an identical Europe and American would always see eye to eye, when we never really had — despite our cultural and democratic affinities. And now we have come to the end of the Age of Exception, a sobriety brought on by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the stark aftermath of September 11, which scrapped off the thin veneer and revealed particle board, not oak, beneath.
Ponderous man, really ponderous.
Not So Fast 
The author of the article said “americans” as if the europeans have a problem with us as a whole. AS far as I can tell, most of the comments were critiquing our government not our people.