And how better to test their ability to stand up to tub-thumping fanatics than to force them to discuss prescription-drug charges with Florida pensioners?
Washington's protectionist rhetoric is no idle threat: America's behaviour towards Japan in the mid-1980s shows that tub-thumping in Congress can quickly lead on to real protectionist action.
Conservative justice spokesman John Lamont said the issue of the role of the Supreme Court had been marred by "much tub-thumping and name-calling" on the part of the Scottish Government.
The increased threat of further conflict in the Middle East intensified the push, adding to late gains on Thursday made after an extra batch of Iranian missile tests and more tub-thumping rhetoric.
Williams epitomises the big-spending Ospreys' enormous ambitions and the 31-year-old winger has sent a tub-thumping message to his fellow "galacticos" at the Liberty Stadium on the eve of the new Magners League season.
So after the tub-thumping at election time, an awful lot of this job for those who do get elected will be about hard negotiation in the boardroom between PCCs and chief constables over what is right for local people - but also for national policing.