Horst Köhler resigned at the end of May, 2010 amid a barrage of criticism for remarks he made during a visit to Afghanistan. It was the first time in four decades that a German president has quit the post, the nation’s highest even though it is largely ceremonial. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Köhler set off the criticism when he said in an interview with Deutschland Radio, the public broadcasting company, that German soldiers serving in Afghanistan or with other peacekeeping missions were deployed to protect German economic interests." Although the newspapers covered the story, no mention was made on the major U.S. broadcast news media.  Americans could have learned something by viewing a president whose office it is to preside without taking partisan positions.  Although they are not to be ceremonial, American heads of government, including the governors and the U.S. president, could have learned from the story how taking a partisan position undercuts the presiding role, which is a part of their own offices.  Even aside from such utility, moreover, the story was inherently newsworthy because Germany is a large state in Europe. Its president resigning was thus a big deal, even if the office was ceremonial.  Were Queen Elizabeth II to abruptly resign after getting complaints from having made a controversial statement about the British military, CNN, Foxs News and MSNBC would be all over that story. The "news blackout" in the American states can thus be taken as indicative of something deeper going on in the editors' decisions. Is there really still some "Anglo-American" axis as many people on the continent of Europe still believe?  Are Americans marginalizing continental Europe? If so, is it out of some vestage historical attachment?  The US today is formed by states whose land had been part of France, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands as well as Britian. A cultural attachment to one of these would thus be reductionistic. Yet the continent feels very far away from the attention of American broadcasters and perhaps even the American people themselves.