Where was that John McCain during the 2008 presidential election campaign trail?
As Jerry Tundag described it: “The speech John McCain gave when he conceded defeat to Barack Obama should go down in American history as one of the greatest speeches ever made for an occasion as that.” See McCain speech deserves to be preserved.
You may have turned off the TV once all of the major news stations projected Barack Obama as the President-Elect, but if you did, you missed a performance from John McCain that we never saw during the 2008 election campaign.
During John McCain’s concession speech to the nation, John McCain seemed at peace, a man confident in his belief that he gave it all he had, and came up just a little bit short. McCain offered his congratulations to his opponent, and he truly seemed to mean it. There was sensitivity behind his statements and there was compassion in his voice. He genuinely seemed to understand the gravity of the moment – that the country he so loved had voted an African-American man to the nation’s highest office for the first time in the history of the United States of America. You believed him when he said:
“I urge all Americans … I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him [Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country then we inherited.”
The John McCain that spoke at the Biltmore Hotel on election night, wasn’t the same “Maverick” that we saw all campaign long.
It wasn’t the same “Maverick” that constantly criticized his opponent’s stated agenda, instead of talking about his own plan and agenda on how he would take on the severe economic crisis facing the country and how he would restore confidence in America, both at home and abroad.
It wasn’t the same “Maverick” that constantly smirked and smiled at every statement made by his opponent during nationally televised debates when he disagreed with those statements.
And it wasn’t the same “Maverick” that could never seem to endear himself to his own conservative party or to those undecided voters torn between a young Senator from Illinois and a proven war hero who had devoted his entire life to serve his country.
I wish we had seen the 11/4 John McCain a lot more than the “Maverick” John McCain during the 2008 election campaign.
The 11/4 McCain showed that he understood the plight of the average American.
The 11/4 McCain connected with everyone out there, not just those that already supported him.
The 11/4 McCain showed the intelligence and leadership that the next President will need in order to galvanize the country to get through our current tough times.
It will be nice to remember the 11/4 McCain more often than the “Maverick” McCain as he continues to serve his country as a U.S. Senator during his term.
