McCain eulogised by rivals as representing America at its best

Bloomberg

Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama led a final, public farewell to John McCain, praising the Arizona senator as the embodiment of America at its best—yet it was powerful comments by McCain’s daughter that may be most remembered.
“So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse, can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in bombast and insult, in phony controversies and manufactured outrage. It’s a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but is in fact born of fear,” Obama said. “John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.” Bush said if the country is “ever tempted to forget who we are,” or grows weary of its cause, “John’s voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder; We’re better than this. America is better than this.”
The solemn funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral also featured tributes from globally known figures such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Yet the 17-minute eulogy by McCain’s 33-year-old daughter Meghan was, perhaps, the most powerful.

Bravery in Battle
Her tearful remembrance recounted McCain’s bravery in battle and his endurance as a prisoner of war, but she focussed on his role as a loving father and her pride in being his daughter. She included barely veiled rebukes of President Donald Trump, who repeatedly clashed with the late senator and whose absence from the funeral was conspicuous.
Parts of Obama’s and Bush’s remarks also seemed to reference Trump, who wasn’t mentioned by name but whose daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner were among the mourners. “We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness. The real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave , nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege,’’ Meghan said.
“The America of John McCain has no need to be made great again because America was always great,” she said. With that line, applause echoed through the cathedral. The president was pointedly not invited to the funeral, according to the New York Times. As the event was under way, Trump tweeted about Nafta and left the White House for the Trump National Golf Club in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Mutual Animosity
The animosity between McCain and Trump had been mutual, and they clashed often. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump —who received draft deferments during the Vietnam War—disparaged McCain’s former prisoner-of-war status, saying he preferred people who weren’t captured. The president has since repeatedly criticised McCain for not providing the last vote needed in the Senate to repeal Obamacare last year. This week, after McCain’s death, the American flag at the White House was lowered to half-staff and then raised to full position after a little over a day. Trump agreed to return it to half-staff only after a barrage of criticism.
“I disagreed with many of the things that I assume he believed in. With that being said, I respect his service to the country,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg News. McCain died August 25 at age 81 after a battle with brain cancer. He was to be laid to rest on Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he graduated in 1958.
McCain served since 1983 in the US House and Senate, including being elected to six Senate terms and rising to be a senior voice on defense and
foreign policy. Historically, the former naval aviator and courageous Vietnam prisoner of war will likely be most remembered for his two presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008, when he was defeated by Bush and then Obama.