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 As the Democratic candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, tear each other apart in a war of attrition, the presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain, is trying to look presidential and focus on substance. After travelling through Europe and the Middle East earlier this month, McCain unveiled Wednesday his first substantive foreign policy speech in Los Angeles.

McCain’s reaffirmation of his commitment to ‘stay the course’ in Iraq allowed his Democratic opponents to argue that the Republican Senator will merely follow the failed policies of President George W. Bush and keep America in Iraq for a hundred years.

A careful analysis of the speech, however, shows

McCain not just rebutting his critics among Democrats but also deliberately differentiating himself from Bush.

McCain argued that he is not against a withdrawal from Iraq, but only a premature one. “It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing, and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible, and premature withdrawal.”

Accusing his opponents of courting defeat in Iraq, McCain said the “consequences of our defeat would threaten us for years, and those who argue for it, as both Democratic candidates do, are arguing for a course that would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war”.

Not Bush’s clone

While Iraq is all domestic politics in the United States, McCain has unambiguously signalled that he will not be Bush’s clone when it comes to the rest of the world. For one, he has promised to shut down the controversial Guantanamo base that holds many detainees from the war on terror.

McCain is also making a broader point. “America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model. How we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad. We must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundation of our society. We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured.”

McCain also emphasised his commitment to multilateralism, to separate himself from the widely perceived unilateralism of the Bush Administration. “Our great power”, McCain said, does not mean “we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed. We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies.”

Distancing himself from the Bush Administration’s prolonged neglect of global warming, McCain said, “We need to be good stewards of our planet and join with other nations to help preserve our common home. The risks of global warming have no borders.”

McCain also conceded that America’s policies have alienated much of the opinion in the Islamic world. Saying that military power alone cannot win the war against terror, McCain called for “major changes in how our government faces the challenge of radical Islamic extremism” and stressed the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the moderate Muslims around the world.

India and China

New Delhi never needed much prompting to see the advantages of a McCain presidency including his credentials as a free trader and his warm embrace of India’s democracy. While much of the world is looking for a change in America’s policies, India has good reasons to seek continuity with Bush in Washington’s political commitment to build a strong partnership with New Delhi.

McCain’s speech fully justified India’s enthusiasm for him. He calls for India’s membership of the G-8 group of industrialised countries (at the expense of Russia, though) and hopes to put India at the very centre of the “league of market democracies” that he hopes to build.

McCain’s positive view of India contrasts with his emphasis on conditional cooperation with China. “Until China moves toward political liberalisation, our relationship will be based on periodically shared interests rather than the bedrock of shared values”.

If Bush broke the paradigm of Indo-Pak parity, it will be New Delhi’s hope that McCain might elevate India above China in America’s worldview.

The writer is professor, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore iscrmohan@ntu.edu.sg