Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell made national headlines in the US recently when he called the postponement of an American football game an indication of the "wussification" of America.

The implication was that the American populace had become obsessed with safety helmets and padded playgrounds, and that by moving a football game - which should be a test of machismo regardless of the natural elements - the US is coddling people in an attempt to avoid risk and injury.

But even more interesting than claiming America had become a nation of sissies was the country Rendell used as a comparison: "The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," Rendell added. "If this was in China, do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

Math jokes aside, the reference to China by a state politician, as opposed to a national figure from the Senate or the House of Representatives, is yet another example of a government official from the US using China as the barometer of comparison when reflecting on the US.

Speaking in Hong Kong in November 2010, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg chided the new crop of elected officials entering the US Congress, claiming that many lacked a real understanding of China, and that this was going to hurt the US.

"I'll bet you a bunch of those people don't even have passports," said Bloomberg, addressing the Climate Leadership Group of 40 cities at the workshop in Hong Kong. "We're about to start a trade war with China if we're not careful here - only because nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is."

In addition to the politicians who use China as a yardstick to measure performance in the US, there are others at state level who concentrated on developing economic ties between the two nations in 2010.

Half a dozen governors from the US have made trips to China in 2010, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Others who traveled to China in 2010 include the state governors of Minnesota, Washington and Georgia.