Former US President Barack Obama, who ran against and defeated Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, has mourned the late lawmaker shortly after his death on Saturday night.
Obama said all Americans were “in his debt.”
He also made note of his run against McCain 10 years ago, noting that the two of them were different in many ways, but that they both saw “a fidelity to something higher.”
In His words:
“John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds and competed at the highest level of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher – the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed,” Obama said in a statement.
“We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible – and citizenship as our patriotic obligation to ensure it forever remains that way,” he said.
“Few of us have been tested the way John once was or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own,” Obama continued. “At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our most heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.”
