The U.S. and Germany--Germany and the U.S.?

The first part of the title is covered nicely in Roger Cohen's column today. However, we don't read a lot about how Germany could contribute to a more productive transatlantic relationship. I just did a piece on this myself, wondering if "Europe" will be able to band together and line up in support of U.S. leadership under Obama. (Everyone wants Obama to succeed--but will Europeans put their money where their mouths are, for example in Afghanistan, when the time comes, as it surely will?). Cohen is good at pointing out how the U.S.-German relationship has worked during the Cold War and how Germany continues to be a crucial partner in Europe. But there isn't too much about, for example, anti-Americanism in Germany today, or about support for Putin's Russia there. I agree, there's still much more that unites Germany and the rest of Europe with the United States than divides them. And we'd all be much worse off if we went our separate ways in the world. In fact, the word desperately needs the "West" to act together where possible. But the relationship needs work, and the work needs to be done on both sides of the Atlantic. Let's watch how Obama handles the transatlantic relationship; but let's also watch the European response. (Where's John Vinocur when you need him?)