| | Accepting Democratic nomination, Obama unveils harshest attacks on McCain foreign policy
Defends himself from attacks on patriotismDENVER -- Barack Obama, accepting his party's nomination after a campaign promising to bring change to Washington, unveiled some of his harshest attacks against his Republican opponent while fiercely defending himself from attacks on his patriotism.
Speaking before a crowd of 84,000 cheering, flag-waving supporters, Obama presented himself as having the "temperament and judgment" to lead America through a tumultuous world and accused John McCain of taking his eye off the No. 1 threat to national security.
"John McCain likes to say he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell -- but he won't even go to the cave where he lives," Obama said, accusing the Arizona senator of supporting the Iraq war and losing focus on Afghanistan.
The 45-minute address allowed Obama to outline his domestic and foreign proposals before a national audience, but its most striking aspects were lines like that one laying into his Republican opponent. The Illinois senator outlined his background growing up without knowing his father and watching his mother die of cancer, comparing his own experiences to the populist domestic policies he hoped to introduce.
"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," Obama said after praising his parents and grandparents.
The meatiest part of Obama's speech saw him discussing his foreign policy proposals and emphasizing his judgement in opposing the Iraq war. He further noted that his call for a timetable to leave Iraq has garnered support from Iraqi leaders and has even been entertained by the Bush administration, arguing that McCain "stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war," and calling for a new direction in foreign policy.
"You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by occupying Iraq," Obama said, mentioning his calls to engage in diplomacy with rogue regimes and rebuild US alliances with Europe. "If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice -- but it is not the change we need."
Obama presented himself as following in the mold of past Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy and accused President Bush of squandering America's legacy in the world. While he said he looked forward to debating foreign policy with McCain, Obama responded directly to McCain's accusations that his positions were politically motivated.
"What I will not do is suggest that the Senator takes his positions for political purposes," Obama said. "Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character of patriotism."
McCain has repeatedly launched the accusation that Obama would "rather lose a war than lose an election," and the Republican presidential nominee's favorite talking point of late is that he puts "country first" -- carrying with it the none-to-subtle implication that Obama does not.
Obama explicitly responded to those accusations with a reprise of one of the best lines from the 2004 convention speech that launched him to national prominence.
"The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag," Obama said as thousands of American flags fluttered in the audience. "They have not served a Red America or a Blue America -- they have served the United States of America.
"So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."
This video is from CNN.com, broadcast August 28, 2008.
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