McCain hails Romney as best to lead country, hits Obama on foreign policy

John McCain, who four years ago stood on the stage as the Republican Party's presidential nominee, told this year's GOP convention Wednesday night that Mitt Romney is the best choice to bolster the country's standing in the world, while blasting President Obama on foreign policy.

"When we nominate Mitt Romney, we do it with a greater purpose than winning an advantage for our party," the Arizona senator said. "His election represents that best hopes for our country and the world."

"For four years, we've drifted away from our proudest traditions of global leadership -- traditions that are truly bipartisan," McCain said. "We've let the challenges we face, both at home and abroad, become harder to solve. We can't afford to stay on that course any longer."

McCain criticized Obama for missing what McCain said was a historic opportunity, by failing to throw America's "full moral support" behind Iranian revolutionaries trying to remove a "brutal dictatorship that terrorizes the Middle East and threatens the world."

He also blasted Obama for committing to a date for withdrawing from Afghanistan and for tensions with Israel.

"We can't afford to cause our friends and allies, from Latin America to Asia, Europe to the Middle East, and especially in Israel -- a nation under existential threat -- to doubt America's leadership," he said.