“But we enjoyed the time we shared away from the bright lights. And we laughed with each other. And we learned from each other. And we never doubted the other man’s sincerity or the other man’s patriotism. Or that when all was said and done, we were on the same team.”
“We never doubted we were on the same team,” Obama said.
Obama was among three former presidents at Saturday’s funeral; President Donald Trump was not invited.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images(L-R) Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney and Al Gore attend a memorial service for Sen. John McCain at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Sept. 1, 2018.
John McCain remembered as a loving father, joke-telling friend, statesman at national memorial service
Former President George W. Bush “and I are among the fortunate few who competed against John at the highest levels of politics,” said Obama, who ran against McCain in the 2008 presidential election. “He made us better presidents, just as he made the Senate better, just as he made this country better.”
SLIDESHOW: Photos: From POW to senator, the rise of John McCain
Meghan McCain gives emotional tribute to father: ‘John McCain was defined by love’
Obama described McCain, who died last Saturday of glioblastoma, as “a warrior, a statesman, a patriot who embodied so much that is best in America.”
Obama called it an honor that McCain wanted him to speak at his funeral.
The former president said McCain called him with this request earlier this year, and “after our conversation ended, I realized how well it captured some of John’s essential qualities.”
“John liked being unpredictable,” Obama said. “What better way to get a last laugh than to make George and I say nice things about him to a national audience?”
Bush also spoke at the service, calling McCain “honest, no matter whom it offended. Presidents were not spared.”
Chris Wattie/ReutersFormer President George Bush speaks at the memorial service of Sen. John McCain at National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Sept. 1, 2018.
“Back in the day, he could frustrate me,” Bush said. “And I know he’d say the same thing about me. But he also made me better.”
“Above all, John detested the abuse of power,” Bush said. “He could not abide bigots and swaggering despots.”
Emotional Joe Biden remembers John McCain as ‘a brother’ at memorial service
Beyond the eulogies by the former presidents, former Sen. Joe Lieberman also spoke at the service, saying his good friend McCain knew “went to negotiate and compromise to get something done.”
SLIDESHOW: Photos: America mourns Senator John McCain
“He regularly reached across party lines because he knew that was the only way to solve problems and seize opportunities for the people of our country and his state.”
Lieberman praised McCain’s memorable response, during the 2008 presidential election, to a constituent who said then-Sen. Obama couldn’t be trusted because was an “Arab.”
“It was pure reflex,” Lieberman said of McCain’s reaction. “It was who John was. He didn’t need to consult anyone. He immediately defended his opponent’s name and honor.”
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesThe casket of the late Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, is carried out after the National Memorial Service at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Sept. 1, 2018.
‘He’s my hero’: Mourners, some traveling for hours to get to Arizona, remember John McCain
President Donald Trump, who was not invited to Saturday’s ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral, was noticeably absent. Former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent in 2016, were also in attendance.
Trump spent Saturday at his private golf club in Sterling, Virginia. The president tweeted Saturday, threatening Congress not to interfere with his renegotiation of NAFTA.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were both present at Saturday’s ceremony, as well as Chief of Staff John Kelly, who accompanied the late senator’s wife Cindy McCain to the Vietnam Memorial ahead of the funeral.
Leaders from both parties mourn McCain at Capitol
Trump came under public pressure to acknowledge the former Vietnam prisoner of war and longtime Arizona senator after initially releasing only a short tweet of condolences and lowering the White House flag for less than 48 hours.
The White House eventually returned the flag to half-staff under pressure from veterans groups and even some of its own staffers.
Trump defends his public response to McCain’s death: ‘We had our disagreements’
When asked whether he missed an opportunity to unite the country, Trump stood by his actions, telling Bloomberg News, “No, I don’t think I did at all.”
“I’ve done everything that they requested,” Trump said.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
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