What was most striking about Republican Senator John McCain’s classy, gracious, unity-embracing concession speech shortly after it became Democratic Senator Barack Obama had enough electoral votes to win the White House? Two things:
1. Unlike in past races, McCain didn’t turn out to be the non-winner who lingered before conceding: he quickly moved to put an end to the political race and begin the nation’s political healing process.
2. But, most strikingly, the speech was vintage 2000 John McCain — and it was perhaps a bit bittersweet to some of McCain’s 2000 supporters who voted against him this year as they most likely wondered: “Why didn’t he talk like this during the campaign? Why didn’t he run using this same tone and persona?” McCain’s speech made it seem as if a long-lost twin brother had suddenly reappeared. It was one of the finest moments of his long, troubled campaign. This time he wasn’t worrying about the reaction of his party’s base — only what he felt needed to be said. Just like in 2000.
The full text of his speech is HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.