The world through the eyes of an old soldier

YOU WANT to understand the difference between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama? Just listen to them explain the lesson of the Iraq war.

To McCain, it is all about how war should be waged: "You cannot have a failed strategy that will then cause you to lose a conflict."

To Obama it is simply about whether war should have been waged, "whether we should have gone in."

McCain was dignified throughout the debate and strong on points involving national security. He did his best to paint Obama as untested, naive, and even called him "dangerous," specifically in connection with sitting down without preconditions with the president of Iran.

But the Republican nominee looks and sounds like what he is: an old soldier, who remembers history because he lived through it. At one point, he even said his pen was "old."

Next to him, Obama looked exactly like what he is: younger, fresher, and cooler in style and temperament. He also sounded knowledgeable and scored points when he noted that a president should be prudent. Then he mentioned some of his opponent's less prudent moments on the campaign trail involving statements about North Korea and a ditty about bombing Iran.

When McCain mentioned the bracelet given to him by the mother of a US soldier who died in Iraq, Obama hit back swiftly: "I've got a bracelet, too," he said. It was given to him by a mother "who asked me to make sure another mother's not going through what I've been going through."

McCain sees the world through the prism of Vietnam, an old, lost war that America needs to stop fighting.

Obama looked and sounded like the presidential candidate who could finally do that.

Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.