"I don't think Chirac and Schroeder were the ones who "overplayed their hands," if you know what I mean..."

I do. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one; I think these two leaders are going to be regarded as twin disasters when the history of the era is written.

"Besides, I wonder why Victor Davis Hanson considers Sarkozy and Merkel "staunchly pro-American." I'd thought that military historians would be a bit more skeptical about the rhetoric of politicians. What staunchly pro-American policy have Merkel and Sarkozy implemented?

Hanson is a classical historian - Greece and Rome, not pnecessarily a 'military historian'. Compared to their immediate predecessors Sarkozy and Merkel are far more pro-American, although whether they fit that description on a more objective scale is debateable.

"Or perhaps what we are seeing here is a trend of lowered expectations,"

There is something to this, I think. My expectations have been radically lowered - to the point where I expect precisely nothing from either country or theor leaders. In my view the NATO alliance is dead, but the corpse has not begun stinking enough to make it obvious to people with their eyes firmly closed.

"Yet another way to look at it is: Europeans have not contributed very much to Iraq and "the good war" in Afghanistan. Many Americans don't see Europe as a crucial ally who has the power to help in America's hours of need. Thus nice statements and withholding public criticism is the only thing to expect from Europeans."

It's funny. I DID see Europe as a "crusial ally who had the power" - until Europe deliberately held it's nose and decided not to be a crucial ally. Europe still could be a crucial ally - but Europe doean't want to. And it won't. That means the alliance is dead and nice words is all that is possible.

"If we Europeans want to be taken more seriously, we need to offer more."

I think the train has left the station. 'Europe' may be able to call a cab and catch up to the train at the next station, but I see no significant efforts to run to the taxi rank. Indeed, I see Europe proposing to offer less, if anything.

Note that 'Europe', while a useful abstraction, is not a precise enough term to accurately describe the situation. The US will remain closely allied to large parts of NATO (the UK, Ireland, Iceland, and Canada). But NATO links to the continental European members have been fatally weakened and are parting even as we watch.