McCain criticizes Obama's Berlin speech
Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 3:46 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy and NBC's Mark Murray
PHOENIX, AZ -- Speaking before the American Legion National Convention here today, McCain said that it fell upon him to officially welcome the 89-year-old group to his home state.
“Our governor is out of town, up in Denver for some big party they're throwing there,” McCain said, jokingly referring to the Democrat’s convention. “I guess my invitation got lost in the mail.”
Although the group will hear a video from Obama tomorrow, McCain used his speech today to criticize his opponent’s stance on America’s role as a superpower. Referring to Obama’s speech in Berlin, McCain said that he had a “chance to express such confidence in America” -- but passed it up.
“He was the picture of confidence, but in some ways the confidence in one's self and confidence in one's country are not the same,” McCain said.
In fact, in that Berlin speech, Obama expressed plenty of confidence in America. "I also know how much I love America," the Illinois senator said that day. "I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived -- at great cost and great sacrifice -- to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world... What has always united us -- what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores -- is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please."
Also in his speech today, McCain criticized Obama for implying that the United States’ involvement in Iraq had not been a good model for Russia, quoting Obama as saying, “We've got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies. They can't charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”
“I guess we are left to figure out the rest for ourselves,” McCain said before listing off several humanitarian conflicts that Obama could have been referring to.
“If I catch Sen. Obama's drift,” McCain continued. “Then our failure to ‘lead by example’ was the liberation of Iraq. And if he really thinks that, by liberating Iraq from a dangerous tyrant, America somehow set a bad example that invited Russia to invade a small, peaceful, and democratic nation, then he should state it outright -- because that is a debate I welcome.”
