Obama, Meghan McCain rebuke absent Trump in tribute to fallen senator

Daughter Meghan McCain speaks at the memorial service of US Senator John McCain at National Cathedral in Washington, US, September 1, 2018 –REUTERS/Chris Wattie

WASHINGTON (Reuters): Former US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, once fierce 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 made a forceful statement condemning 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.

Trump feuded publicly with McCain and mocked his military service, continuing to knock him even after he grew ill. The former Republican Arizona senator 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 US political leader attended the memorial service, and while Trump himself was absent, his presence was felt. 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 US 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.”

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.”