Those Obama supporters who live in reality should be prepared for their candidate to pull a Bill Clinton. Recall that he promised a “middle-class tax cut” in 1992, but swiftly shelved the idea once he was elected.

Obama’s Web site also promises that, as president, he “will complete the effort to increase our ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines.” That’s important. As Obama himself wrote last year in Foreign Affairs magazine, “A strong military is, more than anything, necessary to sustain peace.”

In the same article, Obama added that, “Unfortunately, the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, according to our military leaders, are facing a crisis. The Pentagon cannot certify a single army unit within the United States as fully ready to respond in the event of a new crisis or emergency beyond Iraq.”

Yet let’s again turn to Congressman Frank, whose perch on the Banking Committee makes him the gatekeeper for House spending priorities. He told the editorial board of the South Coast Standard-Times that he favors cutting defense spending by 25 percent. “We don’t need all these fancy new weapons. I think there needs to be additional review,” he added. Of course, it’s impossible to see how spending far less on defense is going to pull the military out of its supposed decline.

Nobody can doubt we’re at a difficult moment in American history. A collapse in housing prices and the federal mega-bailout of our financial industry have everyone on edge. Yet let’s remember that the average American in 2008 still has things better than virtually anyone at virtually any time, ever.

“For essentially all of human history,” Gregg Easterbrook notes in his 2003 book, The Progress Paradox, “the typical person’s lot has been unceasing toil, meager living circumstances, uncertainty about food, rudimentary health care, limited education, little travel or entertainment; all followed by early death.” The reality is that all of those hurdles have been cleared for us. Americans in the 21^st century never give them a second thought.

By all means, vote for whomever you like on Tuesday. But remember, if you vote simply for “change,” you may be sorely disappointed with what the new administration brings.