What is Better: Perception or Usage of Power?

I saw Ramgopal Verma's Sarkar a few days back. I have one perspective about the situations in the movie and would like to hear what people have to say about it. Hence this entry.

Contrary to a lot of Godman movies, Amitabh (who is Sarkar) hardly does anything gangster like in the movie. The aura around him is larger than life and when people come to meet him, first thing they are supposed to do is touch his feet.Sarkar wields his power not from actual usage but from perception of his power. In very subtle ways, he tries to explain this to his elder and unruly son who loves to flaunt this inherited power.

Looking at it from a much larger perspective of world diplomacy in modern context, I think America has a lot to learn from this point of view. Its true that negotiations always have to be backed with a credible threat of use of power but the beauty also lies in never letting those negotiations reach a point where use of power becomes imminent.

One look at Iraq and it doesn't take much brains to conclude that the aura which was associated with American power no longer exists. American used their power, and all of it, and now has no clue about what to do next. Because when your power fails, there are no backup options. There are no threat perceptions, no mind games. Mr. Zarqawi has given ample examples to the world in last one year on how to deal with American military might.