How can this be?
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/22/why ... relations/When Obama took office in 2009, expectations in Germany were sky high. Obama, Germans hoped, would make America a better partner. He would bring new energy to climate negotiations and nonproliferation efforts, solve the evolving financial crisis in a coordinated way, strengthen international organizations and multilateral cooperation, and approach the fight against terrorism in a less aggressive and unilateral manner, together with his European partners. “Historic Shift: Obama Awakens the New America,” a Der Spiegel story from Nov. 5, 2008, proclaimed jubilantly.....
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who had spoken of “unconditional solidarity” with the United States in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, became the first German chancellor to openly take issue not only with U.S. foreign-policy choices but also with the American way of life.
That way of life was once much admired in Germany, particularly during Cold War, for its avowed dedication to freedom, anti-authoritarianism, and democratic values. But in the intervening years, many Germans had come to see American culture as ruthlessly capitalist and consumerist and U.S. foreign policy as bullying and unilateral. Schröder contrasted this idea of America with that of a “German way,” which encompassed both a very different socioeconomic model, which prioritized competitiveness but also equality and environmental sustainability, and a different vision for international coalitions, which could serve as alternatives to the transatlantic alliance. These were tensions not just about policy, but about fundamental values............
While Obama initially stirred hopes for far-reaching change in U.S. politics, many Germans today feel let down. Domestic struggles prevented Obama from fulfilling his promises on issues like Guantánamo; then Germans learned that the National Security Agency had carried out massive surveillance in Germany and other EU member states, which included tapping the cell phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Values and political norms, moreover, diverge on issues like state intervention in the economy, the use of force, embeddedness in international organizations, religiosity, and acceptance of homosexuality.....
Germans’ sense of unease with the United States and globalization more broadly is particularly visible in the surprisingly politicized debate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Last October, an estimated 250,000 people protested in Berlin against TTIP, speaking out against markets prevailing over democracy and European standards being lowered due to pressure from U.S. businesses. The protest was supported by a broad alliance of civil society actors like labor unions, consumer advocates, and environmental organizations, as well as the Greens and Left Party.......
