It may be a bit early to write about what we're all going to think of John McCain, but I think that I have a bit of the picture.
McCain will be remembered as the one Republican that many Democrats said that they'd vote for. Some did (Joe C.) and far more decided that party actually did matter more than policy or character.
McCain was remembered as the guy sunk by Karl Rove's tactics. However, for some reason folks in the media decried his attacks on Barack Obama as the same as Rove's, even though McCain's were factually based.
McCain not only believed in the righteousness of the Iraq War, but was willing to allow two of his sons to join the military. This, and McCain himself visited eight times, building a solid relationship with Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi government. Many times McCain said that he would rather win a war than a political campaign. By touting the successful surge strategy, the
Iraq war is won. If the war was on the front pages, foreign policy would have been a bigger issue, and Obama's inexperience and naiveté would have shown even brighter. Instead, McCain put the country first, and pioneered the strategy that is saving lives.
McCain was everything people said they wanted in a President. He was affable, grouchy when he needed to be, bipartisan, a war hero, and experienced. He stood up to his own party when he needed to and foreign tyrants when others wouldn't.
John McCain is a hero that comes along once a generation. He will be remembered as such.
But we wanted Change at any cost.
