Hype is one thing - results is another. Country code domains from the tiny island nations continue to languish, but CCTLD's for the major industrial countries are fetching some major money - just look at our weekly domain sales charts at Domain Name Journal. Half of the Top Ten is made up of CCTLD's. Only recognition (which comes only with time) is currently keeping .US off the charts. Over 600,000 .US have been regged - those are not all speculators. I remember the .cc hype but I didn't buy any. I bought plenty of .US. It's like the difference between buying a skateboard (with a couple of broken wheels) and buying a Maserati. There is no comparison.
.US does not sell well now, but neither does .net (and it has had a huge head start). In a few years I think .US will be preferred by buyers in the U.S.