Exaggerated fear?

Are we exaggerating the danger of terrorism? Andrew Sullivan's blog led me to this Washington Post article, "The Fading Jihadists." David Ignatius discusses a new book written by a former CIA officer who argues that that is indeed the case, and by doing so we've taken actions (e.g. invading Iraq) which have made the situation worse.

Whenever anyone talks about terrorism being an "existential threat" to the United States, two thoughts come to mind:

1. You're nuts. Even if terrorists obtained a nuclear weapon, at most they'd be an existential threat to a city. And that would be truly horrible, but obviously not a game-ender for the America.
2. The only way terrorism can be an existential threat to the U.S.A. is if we overreact and trample on the Constitution. What we'd be left with would be something that resembled the country we know in geography only.

Fear is a tool that the Republicans have deftly wielded these past seven years. It was disappointing to see Hillary go there as well in her latest ad.

UPDATE: And a fellow Obama supporter sent me a link to his blog with a very ironic quote from Bill Clinton...