Mourning McCain

Ezra Klein writes:

John McCain has every right to be angry. He should have beaten George W. Bush in 2000. He lost to the money and smears of a lesser man, and then had to watch that man occupy the most historic presidency of modern times. Imagine McCain, a man who has spent his life thinking about war and honor and duty and sacrifice, observing Bush exhort us to shop after 9/11. What must he thought of that moment? How often must he have thought of what he would do with that moment?

And I believe, quite strongly, that we had the wrong man in charge these last 8 years. Some will say it should have been Al Gore, but I firmly believe the man who should have led us through 9/11 and all the other trials we have faced is John McCain.

We needed McCain's leadership and expertise and honesty, and instead we had Bush, Cheney, and the debacle of that administration.

But now, as Klein writes, "the world changed on John McCain." He is no longer in the position he could have been in, say in 2004. It is tragic, in a sense. The old McCain, the man who would be President, was never afforded the chance. And now, with his disastrous VP pick, his utter change of character, he is not only going to lose this election, but his legacy will be forever tarnished by his anger, his negativity, and his abandonment of everything that made him so popular in the first place.

I feel a deep sadness at our loss.