August 19, 2008, 9:27 am
Obama Returns Fire on McCain in VFW Speech
By John M. Broder
Barack Obama spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.
Updated ORLANDO – Addressing both his opponent’s charges of weakness and vacillation, and public doubts about his credibility on military matters, Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that he offered not just tough talk but smart answers to national security questions.
Mr. Obama appeared before the V.F.W. a day after his presumed Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, criticized him for advocating a policy of defeat in Iraq and suggested Mr. Obama put personal ambition before the interests of the country.
Mr. Obama struck back with tough language, although his delivery was largely without passion. He received a polite but not enthusiastic response from the estimated 3,000 veterans assembled in a cavernous convention hall here. Many seats were empty because a number of veterans left Orlando ahead of the advancing tropical storm Fay.
“If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities,” Mr. Obama said. “If we think that we can use the same partisan politics where we just challenge our opponent’s patriotism to win an election, then the American people will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics. The calamity left behind by the last eight years is too great.”
Mr. Obama defended his judgment in opposing the war from the outset, saying it had cost America dearly in lives and treasure while feeding radical Islamic movements across the globe. He also said that while new American tactics and political changes on the ground in Iraq had reduced violence there, he still believed that the troop escalation or surge had been a mistake because it diverted effort from the more important effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
And he stood by his determination to remove virtually all American combat troops from Iraq by mid-2010, noting that Iraqi political leaders had endorsed the timetable.
He paid the obligatory homage to Mr. McCain’s military service and sacrifice as a Vietnam prisoner of war, but then raked him for impugning his motives and patriotism.
He said that he and Mr. McCain were competing for the position of commander in chief and that veterans, and all Americans, should judge them not only on their past but on what they propose to do in the future.
“But instead of just offering policy answers, he turned to a typical laundry list of political attacks,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. McCain. “He said that I have changed my position on Iraq when I have not. He said that I am for a path of retreat and failure. And he declared that behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president, suggesting, as he has so many times before, that I put personal ambition before my country.”
Mr. Obama also spoke about the Russian invasion of Georgia, saying “there is no possible justification for Russia’s actions.” He said Russian troops were guilty of atrocities against civilians and had failed to meet its pledge to withdraw its forces immediately.
And he dropped into his speech the name of one of the purported front-runners to be his vice-presidential running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., who returned Monday from a weekend trip to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Mr. Obama endorsed Mr. Biden’s call to provide $1 billion in reconstruction aid for the people of Georgia.
Mr. Obama said that he and Mr. McCain had genuine differences about the course of the war in Iraq and the place of the United States in the world. But he said those were legitimate subjects for debate rather than personal vitriol.
“These are the judgments I’ve made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election. But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism,” he said to a smattering of applause. “I have never suggested and never will that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. 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.”
The McCain campaign criticized Mr. Obama’s record on Iraq and veterans’ affairs even before he delivered his speech, saying he had voted against troop financing last year and had exaggerated his record on support for veterans’ health care and other benefits.
The Obama campaign replied that he opposed one troop funding bill in 2007 because it did not provide a timetable for withdrawal. It released a bill of bills he has supported or sponsored to improve education, health care, family support and training benefits for veterans and their families.
In a reprise of his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech and in what may be a preview of next week’s presidential nomination acceptance speech, he called for all Americans to put aside partisan acrimony to support a larger cause.
“Let me be clear,” Mr. Obama said. “I will let no one question my love of this country. I love America, so do you, and so does John McCain. When I look out at this audience, I see people of different political views. You are Democrats and Republicans and Independents. But you all served together, and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag. You did not serve a Red America or a Blue America, you served the United States of America.”
That passage received the warmest applause of his 30-minute address.
President Bush is scheduled to address the V.F.W. on Wednesday.
