obama VS mccain

ORLANDO — Senator John McCain opened up a hard-hitting political attack on Senator Barack Obama’s national security credentials and stepped up his rhetoric against the Russians in Georgia in a speech on Monday aimed at showcasing his ability to be commander-in-chief.

In an address to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, Mr. McCain criticized what he called Mr. Obama’s “shifting positions’’ on the troop escalation, or surge, in Iraq, and charged that when his rival voted against funding the troops in a single vote in 2007, he had tried to “legislate’’ failure.

“This was back when supporting America’s efforts in Iraq entailed serious political risk,’’ Mr. McCain said. “It was a clarifying moment. It was a moment when political self-interest and the national interest parted ways.’’

Mr. McCain went on: “Instead, Senator Obama commits the greater error of insisting that even in hindsight, he would oppose the surge. Even in retrospect, he would choose the path of retreat and failure for America over the path of success and victory. In short, both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home. The great difference, the great difference, is that I intend to win it first.’’

Mr. McCain was referring to a vote against troop funding that Mr. Obama cast in 2007 because the legislation did not include a timetable for withdrawal. Mr. Obama has voted for all other war-financing bills since he entered the Senate in 2005.

Moving on to Georgia, Mr. McCain raised questions about Mr. Obama’s ability to handle the crisis. “Behind all of these claims and positions by Senator Obama lies the ambition to be president,’’ Mr. McCain said. “What’s less apparent is the judgment to be commander in chief. And in matters of national security, good judgment will be at a premium in the term of the next president — as we were all reminded ten days ago by events in the nation of Georgia.’’

Mr. McCain renewed his threat to consider throwing Russia out of the G-8 group of leading industrialized democracies and bar it from membership in the World Trade Organization. As president, he said, he would take a tough line.

“In cooperation with our friends and allies in Europe, we will make it clear to Russia’s rulers that acts of violence and intimidation come at a heavy cost,’’ Mr. McCain said. “There will be no place among G-8 nations, or in the W.T.O., for a modern Russia that acts at times like the old Soviet Union. The Cold War is over, the Soviet empire is gone, and neither one is missed.’’

The Obama campaign was quick to respond to the speech before the veterans group, which Mr. Obama is set to address on Tuesday. Bill Burton, a campaign spokesman, issued this statement: “All his bluster, distortions and negative attacks notwithstanding, it is hard to understand how Senator McCain can at once proclaim his support for the sovereign government of Iraq, and then stubbornly defy their expressed support for a timeline to remove our combat brigades from their country. The difference in this race is that John McCain is intent on spending $10 billion a month on an open-ended war, while Barack Obama thinks we should bring this war to a responsible end and invest in our pressing needs here at home.”