Obama, McCain argue over Iraq
The war looms as a major theme as their campaigns and that of Hillary Clinton focus on next week's crucial primaries in Ohio and Texas.
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain pivoted away from their primary contests today and traded barbs over the war in Iraq in what could become a key theme in the fall presidential election campaign.
Obama, during Tuesday night's debate with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said that after withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, if Al Qaeda returns to establish a base for terrorism there, he would as commander in chief "reserve the right" to "act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."
McCain, campaigning in Tyler, Texas, belittled Obama's comment, saying, "I have some news -- Al Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called Al Qaeda in Iraq." Calling Obama's comment "pretty remarkable," McCain said that if U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, Al Qaeda "won't be establishing a base, they would be taking a country and I'm not going to allow that to happen my friends. I will not surrender. I will not surrender to Al Qaeda."
Obama, responding at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, brought a roar from the crowd when he said, "Well, I have some news for John McCain. There was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq."
Saying the war in Iraq forced the United States to divert its attention from the fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Obama said, "I've been paying attention, John McCain." Obama, noting that McCain likes to tell audiences that he would follow Osama bin Laden to the "gates of hell" to catch him, said: "All he [McCain] has done is to follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq."
With less than a week before Tuesday's crucial primaries in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, Clinton held rallies and a forum on the economy in Ohio. In a conversation with reporters, she accused Obama and McCain of failing to offer proposals to stop the surge in home foreclosures.
"Sen. Obama does not have a plan," Clinton told reporters on a flight from Cleveland to Columbus. "Sen. McCain doesn't have a plan. And finally, even President Bush has begun to agree with me that if we don't have a moratorium, we will never get ahead of this home foreclosure crisis, and I can't stress strongly enough what that will mean to the economy."
One day after her most recent debate with Obama, the New York senator said she had succeeded in drawing contrasts with her rival, but she declined to answer a question about whether she had done enough to blunt Obama's momentum of 11 primary and caucus victories in a row.
