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Barack Obama’s Touching Eulogy for John McCain Made Us Miss Our Favorite President

He compared his former presidential opponent to JFK and Ronald Regan.

Per Sen. McCain’s request, our forever President Barack Obama, recently stepped behind the podium to offer his heartfelt eulogy for Sen. John McCain, who died last Saturday at the age of 81.

During the Senator's funeral, Obama, who defeated the senator in the 2008 presidential election shared words on everything from his thoughts about speaking at McCain's funeral to how McCain called on his fellow Politians to do away with “petty” politics. 

  • On being chosen to speak at McCain’s funeral:

     “What better way to get a last laugh than to make George (Bush) and I say nice things about him to a national audience. And most of all, it showed a largeness of spirit, an ability to see past differences in search of common ground.”

  • On America’s equal opportunity greatness:

    “John understood, as JFK understood, as Ronald Reagan understood, that part of what makes our country great is that our membership is based not on our bloodline, not on what we look like, what our last names are, it’s not based on where our parents or grandparents came from, or how recently they arrived, but on adherence to a common creed: That all of us are created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.”

  • On the pettiness of politics:

    “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. It’s a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact, is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that.”

  • See the full 8-minute video below:

  • Those watching quickly took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the speech:

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