The big change bus missed my corner stop last summer, and the highest positive emotion stirred hereabouts by the wave of Obamania has been a deep, slowly-building respect for the man's political operation and personal stamina. I hang no posters. I do not swoon, though I do root. Yet, the photograph above hit me - if not with a Matthewsesque leg shiver, then with that rare summer Sunday gulp of realization. Look past Barack to the crowd of American soldiers, behind him at the gym in Kuwait. Look at their faces. If anyone yearns for change in our populace, it's the men and women of our armed forces - all of them facing two or three tours of hard duty, years away from home, careers put on hold, and the threat of death or serious injury on a daily basis. In their shoes, change has a far different meaning and the choice seems stark indeed. Senator McCain seems bent on running like he's the William Westmoreland of 2008, clinging to a policy of pure disaster. Senator Obama may well shift his Iraq policy once he grasps power, and he's certainly right about Afghanistan. He's no peacenik. But his election would begin a broad shift in American foreign policy: I'm not an Obama believer , I'm not baptized into the faith - but I believe this deeply. And those people in fatigues behind the Democratic nominee? They're the ones who need a bit of hope.
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