I do think, however, that it is actually an important motivator of American policy. The American foreign policymaker is so much less limited by the constraints facing most smaller countries. Britain, for example, has its foreign policy practically dictated to it by its geographic position, by French actions, by German actions, by American decisions. In such situations, character issues do have the chance to play a large role. Unlike some other foreign countries, people in the United States do not follow foreign affairs in great detail.
Opinion polls reveal staggering instances of what one can only call ignorance.
People do not know foreign capitals or foreign heads of state. They do not even know the high points of American history. So I do not think it is realistic to ask American citizens to become experts on foreign policy. American citizens do have good instincts regarding foreign policy, however, and they do find ways to send out signals to the political leadership about what is sustainable in terms of foreign policy and what simply will not do. Americans are not saying we have got to be engaged in the Middle East because there are 2.67 million barrels of oil a day coming out of there and that represents 62 percent of U.S. consumption.