McCain: Russia crisis highlights need for experience

By Alister Bull

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan (Reuters) - John McCain warned on Wednesday Russia's invasion of Georgia was a stark reminder the world is a dangerous place and demands experience in the White House lacked by his opponent, Barack Obama.

McCain, 71, has seized on Moscow's attack to emphasize his foreign policy credentials and make his seniority over his much younger Democratic rival a selling point with voters rather than a handicap as portrayed by critics.

"I think the events of the last few days show that there are many places in the world where we don't necessarily anticipate this kind of conflict breaking out," the Republican senator told a fund-raiser in this battleground state.

"It does require a steady hand on the tiller and an experienced one," he said, drawing the silent comparison between his years of foreign policy experience and the comparative youth of his 47-year-old Democratic challenger.

U.S. voters will pick the next president on November 4, but he will not take office until January 20, 2009. With the U.S. involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, national security is an important issue in the presidential campaign.

The remarks follow more aggressive comments by one of his high-profile supporters, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate.

"We've got a real clear choice to make. And I say it respectfully to Sen. Obama because he's a gifted young man. But he's not ready to be president," Lieberman said in New Jersey.

McCain distanced himself somewhat from Lieberman's remarks and sought to play down claims that he was using the conflict to gain advantage over Obama.

"This isn't a time for partisanship and sniping between campaigns," McCain told a press conference later on Wednesday. "Whatever we think at the moment ... we can all reserve that for a future time."

HUMANITARIAN AID TO GEORGIA

McCain's campaign comments came as Washington and Moscow traded barbs over the crisis in Georgia.

President George W. Bush announced he was dispatching the U.S. military to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Tbilisi to show "unwavering" support for the former Soviet republic.

"We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said.

In Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Washington was playing "a dangerous game" in the Caucasus by backing Georgia and the United States will have to choose between its relationship with Moscow and the Georgian leadership, which he described as a "virtual project."

McCain, calling Moscow's action part of "the centuries' old ambitions of the Russians to establish the Russian empire," also said he didn't envisage a return to the U.S.-Soviet hostility of the past.