Much of what Barack Obama has said about the world beyond our shores is about five years out of date. Its pedigree is the stale campaign rhetoric of years past. But the world of 2009 will be far different from 2003. And if elected, a President Obama would probably not do much differently abroad than what we are doing right now.

Take Afghanistan. It is not the proverbial �good� war � as if the Taliban thinks they are more likely to lose than was al-Qaeda in Iraq, because the United Nations and NATO were always more supportive of American operations in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Even the tired clich� �Taking our eye off the ball� rings hollow, given that radical Islam suffered a terrible defeat in Iraq in a way it did not in the Hindu Kush. Seasoned American troops also gained critical anti-insurgency skills in Iraq in a way short-leashed NATO soldiers in Afghanistan did not.