By CARL CAMPANILE
June 4, 2008
John McCain opened the general election campaign against Barack Obama with a blistering attack last night - calling the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee too weak to be commander-in-chief.
"He is an impressive man who makes a great first impression, but he hasn't been willing to make the tough calls; to challenge his party; to risk criticism from his supporters to bring real change to Washington. I have," McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said during an address in Kenner, La.
He called Obama a 1970s retro-liberal whose idea of change includes military defeatism, higher taxes, bigger government and protectionism.
"I am surprised that a young man has bought into so many failed ideas," McCain said. "And that's not change we believe in."
McCain began his speech by profusely praising Hillary Rodham Clinton for her contribution to the campaign, as he tries to woo millions of her disappointed Democratic supporters to his side.
"As the father of three daughters, I owe her a debt for inspiring millions of women to believe there is no opportunity in this great country beyond their reach. I am proud to call her my friend," McCain said.
McCain said Obama's attempts to link him to the unpopular President Bush won't work.
The 71-year-old Arizona senator said he's a real reformer and agent of change, with a record of bucking the special interests and his Republican Party for the common good.
He noted that he pushed Bush for a troop surge in Iraq to try to secure peace and salvage America's interests there, while Obama took the easy way out by calling for troop withdrawals.
"I was criticized for doing so by Republicans. I was criticized by Democrats . . . No ambition is more important to me than the security of the country I have defended all my life," the Vietnam POW war hero said.
"None of this progress would have happened had we not changed course over a year ago. And all of this progress would be lost if Senator Obama had his way and began to withdraw our forces," McCain said.
McCain warned Americans that Obama is too soft to be commander-in-chief.
"Americans ought to be concerned about the judgment of a presidential candidate who says he's ready to talk, in person and without preconditions, with tyrants from Havana to Pyongyang," he said.
