Yes and no. Sometimes, at least in my opinion, what Europeans fail to see is that the entire country is not like that. The Northeast and the West Coast are very accepting of change and are generally liberal. They are the ones that would accept change and have ie. Massachusetts and California allowing gay marriage. It's is the Midwest and the South that are generally heavily Republican and conservative. In fact, there are still parts of the country in the South where white supremacy is alive and well.

As a whole, the country was ready for a change and it choose to elect the change--Barack Obama.

I agree with you that America as a whole is slow to make changes compared to the rest of the world but then again nothing in America was done overnight. Look how long it took African Americans to gain their full rights. Look how long it took women to gain rights. I think electing the first African American president is a step in the right direction and America whould at least be commended for that.