It's not really a question that can be answered.
As a Serb, the love for Kosovo as the place where the Serbian culture was born, where battle were fought for centuries and where 12th century Serbian churches stand (even though I'm an atheist), cannot really be denied or compared to anything American's can related to, since they do not have a comparable heritage, they don't have a mythology. (unless you want to count Holywood)
There is too much history behind all this to waste time writing about it on a message board. Some say Kosovo was lost because of Tito, some say it was Milosevic.
I, unfortunately, look at Kosovo as a bum leg. Despite how much I would like to have a leg, and how much I need a leg, how much this leg and I have been through, at this point it is better to amputate that shit before the gangrene spreads any further. A lost cause.
Unfortunately, some politicians here would rather keep the leg and stay getting head from a small but vocal number of girls who admire stubborn and blind faith than cut it off...ok I can't really finish the metaphor, I think I've stretched it to the limit.