KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday that calls from his Democratic rivals to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq stand as a “failure of leadership” as they are making promises they cannot keep.
Democrat Barack Obama said the failure rests with McCain’s support for an open-ended occupation of Iraq.
Addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, McCain criticized Obama and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and insisted that last year’s U.S. troop buildup in Iraq brought a glimmer of “something approaching normal” there, despite a recent outbreak of heavy fighting and a U.S. death toll that has surpassed 4,000.
Pulling out now would jeopardize recent gains, McCain said.
“I do not believe that anyone should make promises as a candidate for president that they cannot keep if elected,” McCain told the crowd of about 130 people, mostly veterans.
“To promise a withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, regardless of the calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people, our most vital interests, and the future of the Middle East, is the height of irresponsibility,” he said. “It is a failure of leadership.”
He took a brief tour of the National World War I Museum afterward.
Campaign officials also confirmed Monday that McCain raised more than $15 million in March for his presidential campaign, a top performance for him that still falls far short of the cash gathered by Obama and Clinton.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the numbers haven’t been made public.
One official said McCain intends to accept public financing in the general election — a sum of about $84 million. McCain donors are now being asked to supplement that public financing with donations to the Republican National Committee, with a goal of raising $120 million through a joint Victory Committee.
McCain’s campaign nearly succumbed from weak fundraising and overspending last summer. But he rebounded and bypassed public financing for the primary — a step that gave him more flexibility on spending in the early presidential nominating contests.
The Arizona senator has been a leading proponent of limiting the influence of money in political campaigns. By setting up a joint fundraising committee with the national Republican Party, McCain can maximize the donor power of his contributors.
