McCain Says Next President Needs to "Hammer Out" Solutions to U.S. Problems
John McCain continued his biographical tour in Jacksonville, Fla., today and talked about how the next president has "to rethink, reform and reinvent" the ways to solve the problems facing the U.S.
Problems that McCain specifically cited include: "the way we educate our children; train our workers; deliver health care services; support retirees; fuel our transportation network; stimulate research and development; and harness new technologies."
"We can leave these difficult problems to our unlucky successors, after they've grown worse, and harder to fix. Or we can bring all parties to the table, and hammer out principled solutions," he said.
With his mother, brother, sister and children from his first marriage on stage, McCain spoke at Cecil Field about the city that cared for his family while he was away in Vietnam.
"My son's Doug and Andy were here as well as my daughter, Sidney, was an infant when I first left for Vietnam. She did not know me, or I her very well, when I returned many years later to find a bright and cheerful six year old little girl waiting for me."
He said the qualities servicemen and women cultivate should be demanded of all elected officials. "Soldiers are taught to expect the unexpected and accept it, and revise, improvise, and fight their way through any adversity...That is an ethic that should imbue all public service in this country, and it should be the quality all Americans demand from their elected leaders."
Also in attendance was "Straight Talk Express" frequent flyer, Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., whose endorsement many say was key to McCain's primary win in Florida and whose name is frequently discussed as a possible vice presidential choice.