I love America, but America is hardly a very Catholic nation and this seems like a clear cut case of political pandering besides. I'm not a catholic but when I think Catholic I think ancient gilded and extravagant. America is the land of hamburgers, pickup trucks and Protestant megachurches. The two don't fit.
An Italian would make a better pope because the Roman Catholic Church is fundamentally Italian and it has been too long without an Italian pope. An African would be a good pope because they've never had one, despite a huge number of Catholics, present and future, being African.