McCain: 'We need to change the way government does almost everything'

Ever honing his maverick credentials, Sen. John McCain introduced himself to the country as the Republicans' choice for president Thursday by talking about the need for independence all over again -- in energy, education choices, and the economy, and in freedom from partisanship, foreign threats and stagnant government.

"We need to change the way government does almost everything: from the way we protect our security to the way we compete in the world economy; from the way we respond to disasters to the way we fuel our transportation network; from the way we train our workers to the way we educate our children," he said, adding all those systems were designed before the rise of globalism, the information revolution and the end of the Cold War. "We have to catch up to history, and we have to change the way we do business in Washington."

McCain, a man known more for folksy honesty than fiery rhetoric and more for his propensity to buck partisanship than toe a party line, recalled his party's past, but didn't pull punches in saying Republicans as well as Democrats have failed the country in recent years.

"We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave into the temptations of corruption. We lost their trust when, rather than reform government, both parties made it bigger," he said. "We're going to change that. We're going to recover the people's trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics."

He reiterated Republican beliefs, including a strong defense, work, faith, service and a "culture of life," which got huge applause.

He said he would cut taxes where his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, would raise them, and the crowd booed.

But he said partisanship has not solved many problems.

"The constant partisan rancor that stops us from solving these problems isn't a cause, it's a symptom. It's what happens when people go to Washington to work for themselves and not you," he said.

He also extended olive branches to Republican primary voters who chose his opponents, saying he would earn their trust, and he addressed Obama and his supporters.

"We'll go at it over the next two months, you know that's the nature of this business. And you know there are big differences between us, but you have my respect and my admiration. Despite our differences, much more unties us than divides us. We are fellow Americans, and that's an association that means more to me than any other," he said. "But let there be no doubt, my friends, we're going to win this election."

It was a departure from the tone of the many speeches that preceded McCain's, in which Republican stalwarts attacked Obama and the Democrats on issues ranging from foreign policy to tax policy.

Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer, a state political expert, said the speech appealed to American unity, not party politics.

"Clearly the plan was to leave it to (Alaska Gov.) Sarah Palin and before that (former New York City Mayor Rudolph) Giuliani and some of the others to do the frontal attack on Obama," he said. "In some ways, this was a speech that would have been well received at the Democratic convention. The exceptions were in terms of social policy, the reproductive choice division. He clearly took the position that was requisite with the evangelical right on that. But a lot of the rhetoric about being in it together, and concern about people beyond yourself, these were themes that would have resonated as well at the Democratic convention. The thing that bound him to that audience, first and foremost, was the R. He's a Republican, they're a Republican, he's their standard-bearer."

Calling to mind his military experience, McCain said he's not afraid of world challenges -- "I'm prepared for them," a theme that his campaign has consistently used to attack Obama, whom Republicans say is not ready to be president.

"I don't mind a good fight. For reasons known only to God, I've had quite a few tough ones in my life," he said. "But I learned an important lesson along the way. In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test."

McCain had a tough act to follow after a rousing speech Wednesday by his running mate, Palin, who rose in merely a week from national obscurity to a figure who has reenergized the Republican Party's conservative base.

Straayer said it was to McCain's credit that he avoided the heated partisanship of Palin's speech.

"Some of the speeches came, I think, extraordinarily close to drawing a line on care about country and patriotism, almost to the point of saying there are patriots and non-patriots and we are and you aren't," he said. "I think Palin came very close to that and Giuliani even closer ... but (McCain) pulled back from that, to his credit, I think he did."

McCain acknowledged Palin, the convention's newly minted rock star, thanking supporters for the warm welcome she received at her speech Wednesday. He said he couldn't wait to introduce her to Washington.

"And let me offer an advance warning to the old big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: change is coming," he said.

As was the case with Palin's speech, early in the broadcast, the television cameras briefly honed in on protesters being met by security guards. One man held a sign that said "McCain Votes Against Vets" and a woman wearing a pink dress and holding a pink flag was shouted down by conventioneers shouting "USA."

McCain reverted to pilot terminology to break the interruption:

"My dear friends, please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static," he said, drawing huge cheers. "Americans want us to stop yelling at each other, OK?"

Going back later to that fighter-pilot lingo, McCain ended with a tale of his experience as a prisoner of war while he was a Navy pilot in Vietnam, saying he was blessed by misfortune.

He said he fell in love with his country "when I was a prisoner in someone else's."

"I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people," he said. "I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn't my own man anymore. I was my country's."

He ridiculed Obama, saying he, McCain, is not running for president because he feels he has been "anointed" to save the country in its hour of need.

"My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it," he said. "And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God."

McCain is not known for rousing speeches, often appearing more at ease in voters' kitchens in Iowa and New Hampshire, and at town-hall meetings where he can engage people one-on-one.

To that end, convention organizers redesigned the stage to allow McCain to stand closer to the people, who lofted "Straight Talk" and "McCain American Hero" signs above their heads. The speech was punctuated often by applause, however, and in the end, conventioneers were on their feet as their nominee exhorted them to stand up.

"Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit," he said. "We never hide from history. We make history."