perception that Democrats are reflexively antimilitary is wrong when it comes to him. So here are some ideas for Senator Obama to consider:

First: Avoid the usual condescending liberal language when speaking about the military. Nothing turns off military people faster than being talked about as if we are victims. Liberals don't seem to get that military people are proud of their service and mostly pleased with their choice to serve. That is why so many reenlist.    

Second: You need to talk positively about military service as a life where tens of thousands of Americans find meaning, community and happiness because the military exemplifies fairness and opportunity. For instance, when you are looking for a good social model point out that the pay of a 4-star general is only 9 times higher than that of a private, in contrast to the example you often give about a CEO earning in 10 minutes what one of his workers earns in a year.

Third: When you talk about your program for helping college students financially and say that they should owe their country something in return, you list organizations such as the Peace Corps as the sort of group they should join to "give something back."  Add military service to your list.

Fourth: Do what no leading Republican or Democrat has had the courage to do. Talk about the unwitting collusion between the Pentagon's recruiting planners, our top universities and the upper-middle-class. ROTC was kicked off campuses back in the early 1970s. That was about politics. Now it's also about upper class snobbery and "me" selfishness. The heavy lifting should be shared more evenly; that or we need a draft. Let America know that as President you'll call for shared military sacrifice by all classes, just as you are calling for fairer taxes. In a Nixon-goes-to-China type reversal against stereotype call for Harvard, etc., to bring the ROTC back to their schools. (The gays in the military issue has been a smokescreen to hide antimilitary not-with-my-child sentiment at the Ivy League. Military policy on gays can only be changed by the President and Congress.)

Fifth: Don't rely on a few retired generals for advice on the military. Between now and November get to know the enlisted military on a personal level in the same way as (according to press reports) you have enjoyed getting to know your Secret Service detail. Spend a few days on Parris Island watching recruit training. Go light-to-lights with a platoon, watch the best teachers in America--USMC drill instructors--work. The spirit you'll discover will resonate. It's the same uplifting spirit you found in so many people who sacrificed to work with you on the streets of Chicago.

Sixth: Ask either Senator James Webb or Senator Joe Biden to be your running mate. Besides their other obvious qualifications, Webb and Biden have the moral authority of parents with sons serving.
 
Seventh: Tell the truth about how hard it is going to be to extricate ourselves from Iraq, and how long the road may be in Afghanistan. Military people will respond to a call for sacrifice better than to anything that sounds glib. Give us the bad news straight.
 

Bush, and those who voted for his misbegotten war in Iraq, have abused and demoralized our military. Deployments seem endless. Families in the military are breaking up. The National Guard has been misused. The military has been dishonored by having 150,000 contractors foisted on it in Iraq, many of whom are mercenaries outside the military chain of command. For the sake of our military and national security, the Bush war on our military must not be continued just to appease Republican's pride or to give a "win" to some members of an aggrieved boomer generation that is still asking "who lost Vietnam?"

Moreover the needless Bush war is costing us at least two trillion dollars that will threaten our economic and thus actual national security, for a generation. We must choose good judgment over experience, loyalty to country over loyalty to party, the long-term good over short-term "winning," real security and honor over hubris.

McCain is a courageous man. So is Obama. Obama has shown incredible courage by running for the presidency as a black man, something that General Powell refused to do, given the all-too-real threat faced by any black candidate in this gun-crazy, residually racist country of ours. Obama's courage is exemplary, dare I say valorous and martial in character.
 
I don't know if Obama will be a great commander-in-chief. Time will tell. But Obama gives me hope for a better American future. And hope is not an empty word, as I learned during the many long days and nights when my son was at war.