Memorial Day Fireworks on Campaign Trail

Sen. John McCain used his Memorial Day appearance to tussle with Sen. Barack Obama over the war in Iraq. Both candidates spent the day in New Mexico, a swing state that has been decided by razor thin margins in each of the last two presidential elections. McCain criticized Obama in unusually sharp language over the likely Democratic nominee's call for a complete withdrawal from Iraq. McCain implied that Obama's position is reached in part by a lack of specific knowledge about the conditions on the ground in Iraq.
Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited [Iraq] and declared the war lost.

He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time. If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain went on to challenge Obama to visit Iraq during the campaign, offering to make it a joint venture by going along with him.

The Obama campaign responded by not officially responding to McCain's comments. Campaign spokesman Bill Burton said, "Senator Obama thinks Memorial Day is a day to honor our nation's veterans, not a day for political posturing." But Obama did take the occasion of his appearance to criticize the Bush Administration's Veterans policy, highlighting a difference between himself and Sen. McCain that Obama used to attack his rival from the Senate floor last week.

Referring to McCain's opposition to a $50 billion expansion of education benefits for returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama accused McCain of, "lin[ing] up behind the president," on the issue.
I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing, but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them."
It was those remarks that likely prompted McCain to take such a forceful line on Obama's Iraq position on Monday. McCain says he is against the bill because of its cost and because he believes it would encourage soldiers to leave the military at a time when McCain believes the armed forces should be expanded. "By hurting retention we will reduce the numbers of men and women who we train to become the backbone of all the services, the non-commissioned officer," he said.

The holiday weekend fracas between the two candidates shows that Iraq, largely supplanted by the economy as the issue of most concern to voters, remains a potent source of friction for the general election. McCain has been taking Obama to task over questions of judgment for some weeks now, relentlessly hammering the point that Obama's international experience is lacking and potentially dangerously so given that the country is at war. Obama has returned fire by trying to link McCain to the unpopular President Bush at every possible opportunity, arguing that a McCain presidency would be like a third term for Bush. The attacks and counter charges are designed to rile each candidate's base of support, and with more than five months still to go until election day, both sides need to keep their supporters motivated.

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