Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain on Saturday of embracing Bush administration policies that he said shortchange Americans by favoring an extended war in Iraq at the expense of fixing the nation's underfunded schools and crumbling roads and bridges.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, used a national radio address to trumpet his campaign proposals to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and to conclude the war in Iraq responsibly "by asking the Iraqis to take responsibility for their future and to invest in their own country."
The Illinois Democrat pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report that found the Iraqi government could end the year with as much as a $79 billion budget surplus while at the same time spending only a fraction on reconstruction costs that are largely borne by the U.S. McCain will only continue Bush war policies with an "open-ended commitment" that has been unsuccessful, Obama said.
You can read a transcript of Obama's address by clicking here.
