McCain: Americans Divided, Dissatisfied over U.S. Foreign Policy

So, the policy that is under way right now, you would basically stay the course at this point, the way it is moving on sanctions and limited engagement?

The reality is that you are going to see much less enthusiasm from our European friends for sanctions. It's just a reality. They've already said it. That's not conjecture on my part. I am concerned about the fact that you can enrich [nuclear] material and you can weaponize. Those are the two components of nuclear weapons. It doesn't take nearly as long to weaponize as it does to enrich.

I want to look under the hood of this new model. I want to see what intelligence indicates what changes had taken place in Iran and I want to know what is happening on the enrichment side [in which enriched uranium can be easily converted to weapons-grade material] to construct a nuclear weapon. I just don't know enough about it, but I continue to be concerned about Iran's overall motives and ambitions.

Barring a major international crisis with Iran or someplace else in the neighborhood, the issue of the U.S. economy is emerging as a top electoral issue if not the top one. Voters are frustrated over immigration, free trade agreements, the loss of entitlements. How do you stay as a champion of trade and globalization in such a climate?

I make sure that we have a Displaced Worker Program that is viable and will address the reeducation and retraining needs of displaced workers. We continue to create jobs, at a much slower pace, but the fact is that we are not taking care of those workers who have been displaced. We need to go to the community colleges to design education and training programs for displaced workers and we even need to compensate displaced workers for a dramatic drop in income as they have to change jobs. We have federal programs for displaced workers; none of them work.

The 110th Congress is ending its first year at real loggerheads between the parties and between Congress and the president over a long list of issues, especially foreign policy issues¿the Iraq war funding, energy, farm bills. Does this speak to a deep divide in the country that will pose challenges for the next president?

There is a deep divide in the country. I know how the system works. Harry Reid and I came to the House together in 1983. I know how to work with these people, I've worked with all of them on various issues, and I can sit down and negotiate with them and ask the American people to negotiate with me. Politicians crave approval. If we can get something done, I will give them all the credit. And I will sit down with them to do the hard things and there is ample precedent for that. And they know that the American people highly disapprove of Congress and the way we do business. I'll show them the way to regain the approval of the American people, at least to some degree.

The issue that seemed to dominate the last couple of Republican debates is immigration. Republicans seem to be hammering each other on it. Does the failure of the president to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, which you supported this past summer, does that mean that this issue is just not resolvable in the near future whether by a Republican or Democrat?

It's going to be at least 2009. We got the message, those of us who favored securing the borders and a temporary worker program and an approach to the twelve million people who are here illegally. The American people want the borders secured first and as president I will do that. You still need a temporary worker program, with biometric tamper-proof documents and we still need to address the issue of the twelve million people. And not give them any advantage over people, and make them get in line behind the people who have come here legally. It's very unfortunate, it's very sad, the level of dialogue is not helpful to coming together as a nation. These are God's children. And I hope we could address this issue in terms of national security but also in a humane and compassionate fashion.

The country still by all appearances remains a magnet for workers both on the high-educated end and the low-skilled end, but inside the country there's this frustration and fear. The next president should have to have a sort of calming influence.

One of the ways you do that is convince people that you will have secure borders before you move on to other issues. Look, I got the lesson from this last debate. People don't trust or believe in us. So when we said we'd secure the borders along with the other components, they didn't believe us. In 1986, we said we'd secure the borders and gave amnesty to a couple million people and we ended up where we are now. So you've got to secure the borders and convince people that you're now prepared to move on to other issues, and hope that we understand that only solving all aspects of the problem will finally resolve it. And the result, because of the federal failure, as we know, is a patchwork quilt of different laws and sanctuaries and ordinances, which has confused the issue even further.

Securing the borders means different things to different candidates. Is what you are talking about a kind of high-tech program, a combination of walls, high tech, and better policing?

A combination. In the urban-populated areas you need walls, in the trackless desert areas the best and most effective way is to use sensors, vehicle barriers, cameras, a number of other high-tech ways. Because if you're a border patrol, it's tough out there in the desert, in the middle of the summer in 120-degree heat. So, you want to use as much high tech as possible. But in the populated areas you are going to have to use walls and man walls.