Obama denounces false political attacks
Urges focus on Iraq, not challenge to his patriotism
ORLANDO, Fla. - Democrat Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain yesterday of launching false political attacks and of questioning his character and patriotism instead of offering answers on the Iraq war.
"That is John McCain's prerogative," Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. "He can run that kind of campaign, and - frankly - that's how political campaigns have been run in recent years. But I believe the American people are better than that. I believe that this defining moment demands something more of us."
In his speech to the same gathering on Monday, McCain asserted that Obama tried to "legislate failure" in Iraq by opposing the surge of US troops last year and pushing for a withdrawal timetable. McCain, who has repeatedly questioned Obama's readiness to be commander in chief, also said Obama had put his ambition ahead of the country's interests.
Yesterday, Obama called on McCain to retreat from that line of attack.
"I have never suggested and never will that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition," Obama said. "I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.
"Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country," Obama added, drawing applause. "I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain."
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded: "Barack Obama has made it clear that unconditional withdrawal in Iraq is more important to him than victory in Iraq. That's not a criticism of his patriotism, that's a criticism of his judgment."
But Obama said he and McCain have significant differences on policy. The Illinois senator sought to remind the audience that, unlike McCain, he opposed the Iraq war from the start, and argued that while the addition of 30,000 US troops last year might have reduced violence, it has not led to political reconciliation and that the war distracted the United States from fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
"Senator McCain predicted that we'd be greeted as liberators, and that the Iraqis would bear the cost of rebuilding through their bountiful oil revenues. For the good of our country, I wish he had been right, and I had been wrong. But that's not what history shows," Obama said.
He stood by his plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and chided McCain for waiting so long to join him in calling for more troops in Afghanistan and pursuing Al Qaeda into the Pakistani tribal borderlands. "So for all of his talk about following Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, Senator McCain refused to join my call to take out Bin Laden across the Afghan border," Obama said.
The McCain campaign responded to that criticism. "The American people know that John McCain will hunt down terrorists wherever they are," Bounds said in a statement. 