in other words, should i be actually afraid or should i just be irritated by this? it s a little bit of both. the fact is that old style nixonian was about cost benefits. we re at an age where anger and sentiment and trying to do good and striking back are now the terms that drive foreign policy. so what you see is a little bit of fear mongering that we learned from dick cheney that works well in the political playbook, combined with what i think is something happening in both the democratic party and the republican party, a sense that you have to change the way that the inside workings of other states operate if they are seen to be a threat to the united states. it s sort of like the boring in star trek, you either assimilate them or annihilate them. let me ask the question asked to the candidates at the end, let me ask it of you.