Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Saturday after the announcement of the senator’s death, writing that “we are all in his debt.”
“Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own,” the Obamas wrote in a statement. “At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our most heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.”
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The Obamas said that, despite differences in their political viewpoints, both they and McCain were united in fighting for America’s values.
“[W]e shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher – the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed,” they wrote. “We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible – and citizenship as our patriotic obligation to ensure it forever remains that way.”
McCain died Saturday afternoon following a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 81 years old.
McCain, a giant of the Senate, survived years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam to become a leading actor on the political stage for decades.