I can’t speak for all “Westerners” but I do know a little about contemporary Americans. If you were watching Obama speaking to other politicians in Congress, that’s not typical of all Americans. When the President speaks in Congress, politicians applause just as though they are conditioned like Pavlov’s dogs. When politicians speak, they use a lot of “applause lines,” expressions that they know will generate applause. Some of us also find it kind of artificial. There is another aspect. A lot of Americans are “aroused” because an African-American has been elected President. It is purely symbolic and means little, but it excites a lot of people. Lastly, few Americans pay attention to the major events and trends that affect our country but they seem to get aroused by whatever happens to celebrities, whether that celebrity is a movie star, a rock singer or a politician.