Former U.S. presidents Barack
Obama and George W. Bush, once rivals of the late Senator John
McCain, praised him in eulogies on Saturday and joined his
daughter at a memorial service in subtle and not-so-subtle
rebukes of President Donald Trump.
Without naming Trump, who did not attend the service, Meghan
McCain condemned the president in remarks that at times drew
applause and came after she said her dad told her to "show them
how tough you are" with her eulogy.
"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 so willingly, nor the opportunistic
appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege
while he suffered and served," she said, speaking forcefully
and, at times, through tears.
Taking aim at Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great
Again," she said McCain's America was always great.
For years Trump feuded publicly with McCain and mocked his
military service, continuing to knock him even after he grew
ill. The former Republican senator from Arizona died on Aug. 25
from brain cancer, days shy of his 82nd birthday.
Trump, also a Republican, spent Saturday tweeting on other
subjects and went to one of his private golf clubs in Virginia.
Nearly every major U.S. political leader attended the
memorial service, and while Trump himself was absent, his
presence was felt through the content of the tributes.
And by design. McCain asked Obama and Bush to deliver
eulogies while the family made clear that Trump was not welcome.
Obama, who beat McCain in the 2008 U.S. presidential
election, hailed the one-time prisoner of war for his commitment
to truth and core democratic values, qualities that some critics
see lacking in Trump, a former reality television star and New
York City real estate mogul.
"So much of our politics, our public life, our public
discourse can seem small and mean and petty, trafficking in
bombast and insult, and phony controversies, and manufactured
outrage," Obama said. "It's a politics that pretends to be brave
and tough, but in fact is born in fear. John called on us to be
bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that."
Obama also noted McCain's support for a free press. Trump
has repeatedly called the media the enemy of the American
people.
"HE COULD NOT ABIDE BIGOTS AND SWAGGERING DESPOTS"
Bush, in his eulogy, described McCain as a man with a code.
"He loved freedom with a passion of a man who knew its
absence. He respected the dignity inherent in every life, a
dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by
dictators," Bush said. "Perhaps above all, John detested the
abuse of power. He could not abide bigots and swaggering
despots."
Trump has sought to forge close relationships with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former U.S. presidents joked about McCain's
imperfections, while saying he made them better leaders. Their
presence as eulogists was a clear signal from McCain of his
desire for more civility and bipartisanship in Washington.
The senator's body, which had lain in state at the U.S.
Capitol, arrived at the cathedral with a motorcade that first
stopped at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There his wife, Cindy
McCain, laid a wreath to honor those who died in the war.
Uniformed members of the military slowly carried the coffin
into the soaring cathedral and back out again after the 2-1/2
hour service.
Top members of Trump's administration, including his
daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, attended, as did
White House chief of staff John Kelly and national security
adviser John Bolton.
Other guests included former President Bill Clinton and
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Republican
presidential nominee Mitt Romney, comedian Jay Leno, and former
senators Bob Dole and John Kerry.
A powerful pipe organ and Navy brass ensemble played during
the service and renowned opera singer Renee Fleming sang a
stirring rendition of "Danny Boy," drawing tears from Cindy
McCain and others in the audience.
John McCain was a leading voice for revamping the country's
immigration, campaign finance and environmental laws. But it was
his military service, punctuated by years as a prisoner of war
in North Vietnam, that molded his political life.
Rising to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy, he was shot
down over Hanoi while on a bombing mission in 1967. Held as a
prisoner until 1973, he was tortured by his North Vietnamese
captors in a jail that Americans dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton."
As a presidential candidate, Trump mocked McCain for getting
captured in Vietnam. Trump himself received five deferments that
got him out of serving in the military.
On Sunday McCain will be buried during a private service in
Annapolis, Maryland, at the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain was a
member of the Academy's Class of 1958.