McCain: 'US cannot just do as it wants'

America should not assume it can do whatever it wants and should instead live up to its duties as a world leader, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said today.

The former Vietnam prisoner of war and Arizona senator, who hopes his national security experience will help deliver him the Oval Office in November, made the comments in a major foreign policy speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

While he was laying out his plans for the presidency, his two Democratic rivals continued their sniping which many observers believe will harm their party’s chances in the general election.

Mr McCain, who would be the oldest first-term US president if he is successful, proposed a more collaborative approach for US foreign policy after eight years of a Bush administration which has seen America’s image tarnished on the world stage.

“Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed,” he said.

“We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of our democratic allies.”

He said the US “cannot lead by virtue of its power alone” and added: “If we lead by shouldering our international responsibilities and pointing the way to a better and safer future for humanity ... it will strengthen us to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.”

Mr McCain went on: “We have enemies for whom no attack is too cruel, and no innocent life safe, and who would, if they could, strike us with the world’s most terrible weapons.”

He said the US should lead a global effort at nuclear disarmament “consistent with our vital interests and the cause of peace”.

He added that Russia should be excluded from the G8 group of highly industrialised nations and said Western nations should not “tolerate Russia’s nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks”.

He also said he believed the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be closed.

In the Democratic contest, the rows over Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy experience and racially charged comments made by Barack Obama’s pastor continued.

The former first lady declared she was “only human” and “misspoke” after she was accused of overstating her foreign policy experience on the campaign trail.

Mrs Clinton claimed she had to run with her head down when she landed in Tuzla, Bosnia, under sniper fire 12 years ago, but footage discovered by US TV network CBS showed her being calmly greeted by a young girl on the tarmac, with her daughter Chelsea at her side.

Mrs Clinton told reporters in Pennsylvania yesterday: “So I made a mistake. That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.”

Earlier, she told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “I was sleep-deprived, and I misspoke.”

But Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for rival Barack Obama’s campaign, said that her story “joins a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy-making”.

The 60-year-old New York senator, who has also been accused of overstating her involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, was on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, where the next primary election will be held on April 22.

Mrs Clinton also brought up the row over anti-American and racially charged comments made in sermons by Mr Obama’s pastor Rev Jeremiah Wright, which have been broadcast on YouTube.

“He would not have been my pastor,” she said.

“It’s time to stand up for what is right ... Hate speech is unacceptable in any setting.

“We don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend. Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters.”

Rev Wright, who conducted Mr Obama’s marriage service and baptised his children, described America as the “US KKK of A” and said that black people should sing “God damn America” rather than “God Bless America”.

Mr Obama addressed the comments made by his pastor in a well-received speech on how the US could not afford to ignore the race issue.

He refused to disavow the preacher, but said the pastor’s words “rightly offend white and black alike”.

And, in a further sign of the importance of the internet in the presidential race, Amber Lee Ettinger, the “Obama Girl” behind last year’s YouTube hit I Got A Crush On Obama which was viewed seven million times, launched a second video in which she calls for the former first lady to pull out of the race.

“Is there any chance you’ll back off so he’ll get the nomination,” she sings.

“As I said back in June, before it was a cool thing to do. Now that he’s on top, you ought to stop.

“So I’m back on YouTube, there’s a good solution for you. Won’t you step back, stop the attack. It’s the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found that Mr Obama was a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Mrs Clinton was related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

The former first lady, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother’s side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette.

Mr Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six US presidents, including George W Bush, his cousins.