SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: As frustration takes hold in the land of optimism, Americans are beginning to resemble Germans. They are collectively depressed over the Iraq War, the weak dollar and the aging of the baby boomers. Presidential candidates are left to preach change to an electorate that is afraid of it.
All it takes to find out why America is in such a bad mood is a look at the local section of any American newspaper, at the photos of the smiling faces of soldiers killed in Iraq.
All it takes to discover why Americans are beginning to doubt their own greatness is to accept an invitation to a dinner hosted by Adrian Fenty, the mayor of Washington, DC. His vision, says Fenty, is for students in the District of Columbia to receive their books at the beginning of the school year, not in the middle. When asked whether he has other visions, the mayor nods enthusiastically. His goal, he says, is to improve security in the city's schools. Fenty wants to make sure students in the United States capital can once again leave the classroom without facing the threat of violence.
All it takes to understand why the United States, a once-proud economic power, seems so unsure about itself these days is a walk through a supermarket with author Sara Bongiorni. In her book "A Year without 'Made in China': One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy," Bongiorni describes how even those who call themselves smart shoppers have mixed feelings when they purchase low-priced, foreign-made products. "When I see the label 'Made in China,' part of me says: good for China. But another part feels a rush of sentimentality because I've lost something without exactly knowing what it is."
Taking a trip down America's memory lane -- to Gary, Indiana, for instance -- is a good way to understand why Americans today are so anxious about the future. In the days when Gary was the home of the world's biggest steel company, the running joke was that US Steel was so hard up for workers that it would even hire dead people.
The company attracted workers from around the world, including the family of future pop star Michael Jackson. Gary's steelworkers pumped prosperity into America, and the country still retains a sizeable chunk of the past that once thrived in Gary and other places like it.
Optimism Is Becoming an Endangered Species
But Gary is an ailing city today. US Steel has moved its headquarters elsewhere and has severely cut back its Gary operations. Nowadays, the city isn't doing any better than its most famous son. Both have seen better days, but the difference is that Gary doesn't even have the money for a facelift. Once a city of 200,000, half of its population has since left for greener pastures. >>> By Gabor Steingart in Washington
Gabor Steingart, 45, has been a journalist for SPIEGEL since 1990. He is currently reporting from SPIEGEL's Washington, D.C. bureau. His best-selling book "The War for Wealth: Why Globalization is Bleeding the West of Its Prosperity" will be published in the United States in April 2008 by McGraw-Hill. His column, "West Wing -- The Battle for the White House," appears exclusively on SPIEGEL ONLINE on Tuesdays.
Mark Alexander
