I think if you hate war, you move to end it. You don't justify it. I hate sardines, so I don't eat them.

wow, he even talked about AIDS in Africa! I always wonder why that topic doesn't get more attention in politics.

did they broadcast it on CNN?

Very good speech, which is not a surprise. But I still wouldn't vote for him. I actually agree with Raciccarone; we're not going to be able to kill enough people to bring a peace we approve to Iraq.

Wow, that was a great speech, he covered quite a bit of ground.

Great speech. I think it really summarizes his current viewpoints and future plans well.

I won't be changing my vote, but I have to say that I was impressed with the fact that seems to have a more nuanced view of the world than the current administration. I didn't like his invocation of God and suggestion that America has a God-given mandate to save the world, however.

Um, rac, do you have radical sardines attempting to destroy you? If not, maybe not the best analogy.

Though the idea of sardines attaching bombs to themselves to blow you up conjures a mildly amusing image.

I like the idea of a realistic idealist. I like to think of myself like that... and I liked this speech. Doesn't really sway me, but reinforces my belief that McCain is at least someone who believes that he is working for good. And, honestly, my stance that he isn't someone I fear having in the White House. I believe he is realistic in admitting we no longer have our hegemony and is attempting to create a world policy from that realistic standpoint. I am still a little freaked at the recent Shiite slip (he's been running how long and made that big a gaffe?) - but advocating alliances and a world community appeals to me. We do need to hold ourselves to a high standard if we want to be a model nation and be respected.

Like Obama pointing out that no one in this country is taking your job, the problem is the corporation outsourcing, this speech is grounded in the realities of today's international world and hopefully shows a candidate who will face those realities.

Mmmm...Sardines...

Malaria?? Excuse me while I go barf. Malaria?? Seriously this is McCain's vision to help Africa, I am sure African presidents that actually apid attention to his speech are applauding this, not!!!!! I wasn't impressed and I'm very sure Vladimir Putin wasn't as well.

Citizen I have to agree with you I think that is one of the best speeches I have heard this election cycle. I hate that he is not getting as much press as others are. The sad thing is that even though the others are getting negative coverage, any publicity is good publicity. I do not believe this speech will get near as much media coverage as the "race" speech did although this one might have a little bit more importance in the future.

Nyara, I'm sorry but I laughed a little when I read your comment (not in a bad way though!). I'm pretty sure Africa has other problems as well and curing Marlaria isn't going to eliminate corrpution. There were a few points I could nitpick, especially the Shah comments, but overall I really liked his speech. I've always thought that everyone should have their idealistic views, but realize that those views aren't always realistic in the real world. His comments jived really well with my thought process on many things. It won't sway my vote, but if he wins I'll feel a little bit better about it.

I think he's not getting as much coverage b/c until the dems pick someone to race against him, he's not in the back-and-forth that we're following. He's not in a race, but a discussion of policy and ideals. And that certainly isn't as interesting... to the news stations...

Funny you should say that Mymellowman, I've never had an Iraqi attempt to destroy me either. But then again, I've never tried to eat one.

"For decades in the greater Middle East, we had a strategy of relying on autocrats to provide order and stability. We relied on the Shah of Iran, the autocratic rulers of Egypt, the generals of Pakistan, the Saudi royal family, and even, for a time, on Saddam Hussein. In the late 1970s that strategy began to unravel....We can no longer delude ourselves that relying on these out-dated autocracies is the safest bet. They no longer provide lasting stability, only the illusion of it."

Wow, that's pretty blunt addressing of an elephant in the room for a major foreign policy speech. About freakin' time, too.

I also agree with him on this:

We have incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq.

Whether or not the war was right, it happened, and as Colin Powell famously said, "you break it, you buy it." Well, we broke it, and I still go back and forth on what the better thing to do is right now. Will withdrawing improve the situation or make it worse? The situation in Iraq is - relatively speaking - more stable now, so some humanitarian good could now be done.

I'm still uncertain what the best course of action in Iraq is.

But good speech! I'd love to see an Obama/McCain election, I think they'd both run more elevated campaigns highlighting important philosophical differences between the candidates, rather than relying on villifying the candidate and opposing party, which the, er, third candidate has made a career of.

Correction: I should have said *more significant amounts* of humanitarian aid could get through and more good could be done. Both soldiers and aid workers have been providing humanitarian aid the whole time.

I know M2 I'm like what the f**k yet another moronic idea on how to help Africa who advises these people?? As an African I would hav eto say that HIV is a much much much bigger problem than malaria. Malaria can be cured HIV cannot. Most people are educated about malaria, a lot aren't educated about HIV, but what do I know, I'm only an African. I'm not a Vietnam vet running for president of America clearly he has done the mathematics and the solution is eradicating malaria.

What a powerful, intelligent speech. I haven't heard anyone sum up our current foreign policy issues so well in... well in forever.

I don't agree with McCain on abortion, and I resent his pandering to the religious right, but I do agree that we cannot just walk away from the mess we created in Iraq. McCain seems to have thw wisdom and integrity that so many candidated lately are lacking.

I'm still "undecided" and intend to follow closely as the race goes on, but this speech really swayed me towards McCain.

I don't know a whole lot about Africa (and I'm guessing that the continent is diverse enough that it would be foolish to make sweeping generalizations) but I've been slowly becoming more and more interested in it. From what I've read it seems like everyone is caught in a vicious cycle of government corruption and huge divisions between rich and poor and civil war. Plus, islamic radicalism seems to be spreading rapidly there, I read that riots in the wake of those Danish cartoons killed more people in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. I don't really have a clue as to what, if anything, the US should do about that since I'm pretty against strong arming other countries into doing what we want, but I feel like there is an opportunity to do some good if the right person was to look at the situation thoughtfully.

"We have enemies for whom no attack is too cruel, and no innocent life safe, and who would, if they could, strike us with the world's most terrible weapons. There are states that support them, and which might help them acquire those weapons because they share with terrorists the same animating hatred for the West, and will not be placated by fresh appeals to the better angels of their nature."

That must be those Republican scare tactics I hear so much about. Too bad its very true.

It was a great speech, he certainly wasn't my first choice for nominee, but I think he's a good choice and I like him more every day.

Jspeed, thanks so much for your thoughts, we rarely hear from people on the fence!

Most of the countries that have serious problems with conflict were in part created by the Us government back in the days of the Cold war and communism when they were trying to stop communist leaders in Africa and put up men who later became the world's most vicious dictators and from then on it has been one after another. I'm not sure that there is much the US can do but malaria isn't the biggest problem lol, I'm still quite pissed about that. You can't start cleaning from the bottom to the top in Africa you have to start off with a good leader(cough Nelson Mandela, cough) and then work your way down. If they actually took the time to throw their weight behind men who have Africa's best interests at heart and not men who will jump when they say jump you'd see a big difference in Africa.

I find it interesting that Obama gave several speeches (first about race, and that was the most publicized) and then about the economy and the war. Then Hillary decided to give a speech about the economy, and then McCain gives a speech about the economy and then the war.

I think that Obama started a trend!

Obviously lots of candidates give speeches, but by taking one speech to address each of the major issues in the campaign, Obama set a precident.

Candidates have been giving separate speeches to address each of the major issues for years now. I really don't think that's something Obama started.

"I don't agree with McCain on abortion, and I resent his pandering to the religious right, but I do agree that we cannot just walk away from the mess we created in Iraq. McCain seems to have the wisdom and integrity that so many candidates lately are lacking."

I have a lot of the same thoughts on McCain - his Falwell reconciliation scared me since, as my senator, I thought I knew the guy as a moderate and the pandering to the religious right just felt wrong. I disagree on abortion policies, and ultimately am still wondering what to do with this war - but agree with him that there is blood on our hands. And keep thinking about the Charlie Wilson's War issue that we broke it, and now if we don't aid in rebuilding we're creating an unstable future for ourselves and the world.

This is the discussion we need to be having, and though the news shows may not be as interested in policy debates as in the horserace, I am happy the candidates are addressing these issues and some of us are asking ourselves these questions.

JuJu, what else are the Candidates suppose to give speeches on? These are the issues of our times. Obama set no precedence.

Obama's speech on the war and the impact of how the war relates to the economy were both incredibily insightful.

I wonder why they didn't get more coverage?

My computer is blocking the link to the McCain speech, so I will have to dig into that later. Grr.

Jillness, you can get the McCain speech on McCain's website, as well. (www.johnmccain.com)

Oh, and I don't really believe this speech will get a lot of press coverage, either. Kind of like Obama's speeches. Although, I at least saw both of Obama's war speeches mentioned in multiple places. Who knows if that will be the case with McCain's speech.

haha I love whenever Clinton or McCain does something, it's always the case that Obama did it first.

Soon it will be like, Clinton had a ham sandwich today, yea well, Obama has been eating ham sandwiches for years!

I'm def. kidding, but I seem to notice that trend.... maybe he really IS the Messiah!

Arg! "political websites" are banned on my computer so I can't read that link either! Good thing Citizen is considered "news"!

Why are political websites banned on your computer?? Its not porn!

"I'm def. kidding, but I seem to notice that trend.... maybe he really IS the Messiah!"

Dude, that's not even funny. I'm an avid Obama supporter and I definitely do not think of him as a Messiah.

In a word,astounding.I bookmarked it to share in my rhetoric class tomorrow.

Sorry, Jillness! I didn't realize that one would be blocked, too. That's no fun.

And cabaker, I thought it was funny. It's not like you're the first one to use "Barack Obama" and "messiah" in the same sentence. In fact, I ran across a blog titled, "Is Barack Obama the messiah?"

I don't at all agree with McCain's foreign policy at all.

Lilkimbo gave me a link to McCain's foreign policy plan a while ago and I read it and shook my head.

If the execution of McCain's wonderful speech is the invasion of Iran to spread our form of democracy onto another sovereign so great, what makes any of this rhetoric so great?

For the life of me I can not understand why some people believe that invading a nation is an effective way to democratize the Mideast.

The speech was extraordinary. I have always been a fan of Sen. McCaine although I am a Democrat and I can see why he is a headache for the hard right and so much like Sen. Obama in the sense that they are well liked for working across party lines and not circling the partisan wagons on every issue.

His realistic idealistic goals are spot on in my opinion. However, the issue here is not the great goals he has in mind, but the paths he will choose to reach these goals.

There is no question in my mind that Sen. McCains personal integrity is as firm as the ground he walks on. But with all due respect I feel that it is time for a higher state of awareness and consciousness as we relate to our countries needs and to the rest of the world.

I don't know cabaker, you got a laugh out of me. But of course I am a Conservative, which means I have a sense of humor.

I know c'mon Indie! You have had some good laughs at the expense of Republicans, but you can't laugh at the crazies in your own party??

The crazies are what makes it fun!

Not that this is McCain's doing, but I am just wondering why more political strides haven't been made in Iraq during the surge. Wasn't it intended to provide a calm in which progress could be made within their government?

Now that temporary peace is starting to disintegrate, it seems as if the time to make that political progress has passed.

The crazies being the people who act like Obama is the Messiah. Not the people who just support him (like those on here) .

"And cabaker, I thought it was funny. It's not like you're the first one to use "Barack Obama" and "messiah" in the same sentence. In fact, I ran across a blog titled, "Is Barack Obama the messiah?"

Of course you would think it's funny, I don't.

Obama is a man with incredible vision and I strongly believe that he can do the job he's set out to undertake.

cabaker, I don't remember making that many jokes at the expense of REpublicans...just about how funny looking McCain is. If I make fun of anyone, it's Hillary. I can't stand her. Even if I couldn't bring myself to vote McCain if she becomes the Democratic nominee(I wouldn't vote for her either), it doesn't mean I like him less than her. She's so freaking egotistical, it makes me sick...and a bad liar to boot.

Being as that I can't read the speech (grr) I will give my own take on the war:

I think that the issues specifically in Iraq have a lot in common with gang warfare in the United States. They both are fueled by drug money, and blind allegiance to a group that provides brotherhood in desperate times. I think that poverty fuels both of these issues...that Iraqis who don't have power or running water are more at risk for being manipulated by extremists who provide them with basic needs. I think that non-military solutions are desperately needed: people to set up plumbing and electricity.

I also think that bribing both sides will come to bite us in the bootie....much like it did when we funded Osama Bin Laden.

Ahhh....Look at cabaker being all diplomatic. Brings a tear to my eye.