A year ago, it was undeniably clear how Americans felt about the war in Iraq.

Most wanted out.

Polls are now showing that attitudes are more ambivalent. President Bush's surge seems to have given Americans a renewed sense of confidence.

Violence in Iraq has been tamped down and fewer US soldiers are dying in combat.

Senators Barack Obama and John McCain are in a squabble-fest about the surge. McCain is desperately trying to focus attention on his role in ousting Donald Rumsfeld and increasing troop strength.

And wordsmith Obama is trying to cling to his position that the surge wouldn't have been necessary if we had not gotten ourselves into Iraq in the first place. Obama admitted on CBS news last night that yes, maybe the surge has worked a little.

McCain has managed to inject some doubt into the public psyche about staying or leaving. Defeat is still synonymous with Vietnam for most Americans, even for many of those too young to remember that war.

McCain talks about our spiraling national debt in one breath and spending billions more in Iraq with the next.

And Obama's theme of change, which worked so well for him during the primary, is being retooled. He's trying to cast a wider net than the MoveOn.org crowd.

Surge-O-Mania has obscured the truth that Obama once spelled out so superbly.

Veterans and their families understand that truth probably better than any of us.

They know the optimism of isolated strategies can be temporary in the bigger picture.

Even if the surge has worked, it hasn't reduced the number of US soldiers returning from Iraq who attempt suicide.

Veterans Affairs puts the number at 1,000 per month.

This video cuts through the hollow vanity of babble about the surge.