Former President George W. Bush offered a moving tribute Saturday to his one-time political foe Sen. John McCain, saying the Arizona Republican made him a better president and a better man.
“For John and me, there was a personal journey, our hard-fought political history,” said Bush, who bested McCain in a hotly contested primary for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, during his eulogy for the longtime senator at the Washington National Cathedral.
“Back in the day, he could frustrate me, and I know he’d say the same thing about me. But he also made me better,” said Bush. “In recent years we sometimes talked of that intense period like football players remembering a big game. In the process, rivalry melted away. In the end, I got to enjoy one of life’s great gifts, the friendship of John McCain. And I’ll miss him.”
Bush also shared lighter recollections of McCain, including how he yelled at him to “relax” ahead of his final presidential debate in 2004 against Democratic contender John Kerry.
“John has moved on,” Bush added. “He would probably not want us to dwell on it, but we’re better for his presence among us. The world is smaller for his departure and we’ll remember him how he was: unwavering, undimmed, unequaled.”
Bush, along with former President Barack Obama, were invited by the McCain family to address mourners Saturday in a move seen by many as an effort to bridge political divides as both Bush and Obama thwarted McCain’s campaigns for the presidency.
McCain, who died last Saturday at the age of 81 from brain cancer, will be buried Sunday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
