WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 6 (DPI Commentary) — The death yesterday of Steve Jobs inspired broad and sudden grief among Americans, in a way not seen, well, ever for a private citizen you never bought tickets to see.

Indeed, Jobs’ death is being treated by the press and public in an unprecedented manner, with ongoing tributes and reflective coverage usually reserved for statesmen or entertainment celebrities. Tributes on NYTimes.com and WSJ.com and other news sites continue.

Jobs’ ingenuity in designing and pioneering technology products for consumers, as well as his professional resilience, has turned him into a symbol of our tech-driven, post-manufacturing — and globalized — age.

He led a company that recently eclipsed the Exxon’s and IBM’s in market capitalization, at a time when  America had grown self conscious over a perceived decline in global influence.

His death at 56, then, has almost become a watershed cultural event for America, which seems to fear it doesn’t have more original-thinking bright people like him.

It does, of course, but news and more news over political inertia and economic limitation have drowned out the reports about the visionaries who are today dabbling in their garages creating the Next Big Thing.