Russia may have the ability to annihilate us but they are not stupid enough or crazy enough to try else they would have done it sometime in the past 50 years. Saddam Hussein is crazy enough
You assume too much about the Russian leaders. We were in a Cold War, our military huge and our resolve against them firm. Today we are not in a Cold War, we have no civil defense to speak of (where's your community bomb shelter? Do you even have a home unit?), our armed forces are stretched about as thin as they can possibly be stretched (Mr. Clinton is the person to talk to about that one, btw), hell, we have NATO AWACS patrolling our skies because ours are being used elsewhere.
Further, there is little to no unity in the United States any longer, other than the jingoistic flag waving that came after 9/11. Even now, the old bickering is returning (not that I mind that, btw). There are growing home grown resistance forces to the FedGov that have not been present since the Civil War or the Revolutionary War. Our economy is slumping, and even in a slow recovery could be easily shaken down to a depression with one or two more well place "terrorist" actions.
Add to that the fact we still haven't deported Jesse Jackson... :)
But seriously, if one were a strategist for a military power capable of surviving a war with the U.S., now is not a bad time to consider taking out the U.S.
Not that they are going to, but I think you don't consider the Russians in the light of their historical unpredictableness.