John McCain gave a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council yesterday, and in it, he delineated a foreign policy approach that I can support. Now, McCain certainly was not my first choice for the Republican candidate for the 2008 election, but now that he is in place as the candidate, it was nice to hear him step up and describe our current foreign policy situation so deftly. Of course, conservatives are claiming that he is moving towards the "center," although, many think he is so liberal already that a move the center for him is actually a move to the right. I certainly don't agree with every aspect of his campaign platform and I can't support everything he stands or has stood for, but I can support a candidate who says this:

We have incurred a moral responsibility in Iraq. 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. Our critics say America needs to repair its image in the world. How can they argue at the same time for the morally reprehensible abandonment of our responsibilities in Iraq? Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight Al Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake. Whether they were there before is immaterial, al Qaeda is in Iraq now, as it is in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in Somalia, and in Indonesia.

I believe a reckless and premature withdrawal would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values. Iran will also view our premature withdrawal as a victory, and the biggest state supporter of terrorists, a country with nuclear ambitions and a stated desire to destroy the State of Israel, will see its influence in the Middle East grow significantly. These 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 that would entail far greater dangers and sacrifices than we have suffered to date.

Way to go, John. Entire speech here.