I think we have to deal with greater level of pre-war related material due to the "restart" nature of Fallout 3. A good majority of those coming to this game have not played the other two. Yes, a timeline that is concurrent with but unaffected by Fallout 1 might have been nice. But still, it's a minor issue. For storytelling purposes, it kind of has to be accepted.

Uh IT WAS A NUCLEAR WAR!!! I wouldn't forget that for a while especially if i was a mutated freak like ghouls or mutants that not something you forget about over night(more like 200 years)but humans are still facinated about mesopotamia and the revoulutions of the 1700s.

Nuff' said

I think what the original poster was getting at is that there is no way food, medicine, paper products etc would have survived intact after 200 years. After 200 years, all pre-war supplies would have been long gone. And even if some of it were to be found, it would be completely inedible or useable after such a long time. Nearly all of the firearms would have rusted away to nothing, or simply be too worn out to function. Same thing with ammo. Ammo unless hermetically sealed will go bad eventually. Primers will corrode etc.
And the DC power grid still being up after 200 years! No chance in hell of that happening. Even nuclear power plants require refueling and constant maintenance and attention. I doubt an unattended power plant would run longer than a few weeks, let alone 200 years.
And light bulbs still working on signs, in subways and inside buildings? No chance of that either.
And then there are all the people walking around in 200 year old clothes. The material would have worn out long ago. And all the cars, buses etc would have completely rusted away. Same goes for Rivet City. The carrier would have collapsed in on itself and just be a mass of rust, if even that. The forest would also have almost completely reclaimed the land. Radiation would not stop plants from growing, especially after 200 years. The roads would be overgrown, the wooden houses would have disintegrated, and on and on and on.
What they should have done is set the game about 20 or 30 years after the war. Even that is stretching things, but still somewhat believeable. That is basically what I do when I play the game; in order to suspend my disbelief I pretend it's only been 20 years instead of 200...

With regards to the unrealistic depiction of a two hundred year old environmental neglect, this can be partially justified by the Fallout creators' intention to subject the series to the laws of Science! not science. However, the social condition portrayed in Fallout 3 is indeed disappointing. Having most of the wastelanders mentioning about the War (aside from dedicated scholarly characters like Abraham) like a popular recent history subject, is about as believable as us bringing up the Industrial Revolution every now and then in our day-to-day lives. These people were born into the wasteland, and so have their forefathers for the last 6 generations or so. Sure they'll talk about how life is hard, but it's the only kind of life they've ever known. And the "War" that caused all this degeneration of the environment over two centuries ago? Nobody cares. If the Wastelanders still have so much attachment and familiarity to the War like they're shown in FO3, then they would've been hunting down and slaughtering anyone that looked even remotely Chinese. Mob justice, right?

Hence I think the contents of Enclave radio are extremely out of touch - it is as if Eden is reaching out to the survivors that have actually lived through the Great War (which in this case, their targeted audience should be the Ghouls), and not the majority that haven't been living under a Federal Government for the last 200 years. The Enclave could've at least started every broadcast with "a nice remainder that you are actually living in a place called America" to get people updated. They could use a better propaganda department.

frankly i've only heard about 1 person talk about before the war
don't know where all this "everyone acts as if it happened yesterday" talk is coming from
=\ maybe they're listening to the Keller Family transcripts too much?

It's farfetched, sure, but making it realistic would make it far less fun, IMO.

All the historic buildings would have been destroyed, the food gone, and the medical supplies gone.

Where's the fun in that?