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Grace We Can Believe In
Brian Snyder / Reuters
John McCain's former senior advisor reflects on her campaign's final hours, a peace summit with the Democrats, and a moment this season when George W. Bush got choked up.
I know that things are very bad for a lot of Americans this holiday season, so I hope people will forgive me for my good cheer. Perhaps it’s all the hope and change in the air these days, or maybe it’s just my defeat-induced life of unemployed leisure, but I have been filled with a warm and fuzzy feeling. First, there was John McCain’s exquisite concession speech.
Drafted by Mark Salter, and handed to him on election night in a somber suite at the Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, the speech set a new standard for grace in defeat. That night, as we waited for the polls to close so Senator McCain could publicly concede the election to Barack Obama, McCain said to Salter, “It’s your best ever, my boy, your best ever.” The pit in my stomach turned into a lump in my throat. The journey that Salter and McCain had been on together for so many years had come to an end. For those of us who joined the campaign after John McCain won the nomination, there was always a feeling that we’d missed the really good part (and the really bad, as I’m sure those who were with him for the duration would say). That night, those closest to McCain—including Salter and other campaign aides, his wife, Cindy, and friends Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman—seemed to feel the same mix of disappointment and relief.
I just spent a day with senior Obama campaign officials at a post-election debriefing. Having attended the same session four years ago, where we were sneered and snapped at by Bob Shrum, I was prepared for the worst.
The speech sent a powerful signal around the world about the strength of our democracy. It also opened the door for the McCains to return, unscathed, to their previous lives of impressive service—Cindy McCain as an advocate for international aid and relief efforts, and John McCain as a powerful, pragmatic senator known, liked, and respected by a sizable swath of Democrats, Republicans, the media, and world leaders.
Then there was Barack Obama’s “pardon” of Joe Lieberman. It was the right thing for Barack Obama to do for a man who simply stood up for what—and who—he believed in. But in the hyper-political environment we were all digging out of, it was still impressive. Without Obama’s leadership, I can’t imagine Harry Reid and his colleagues coming to a similar conclusion.
And a little closer to home, I just spent a day with senior Obama campaign officials at a post-election debriefing. Steve Schmidt, Bill McInturff, Mark Wallace, and I joined David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Anita Dunn, and others to discuss the campaigns we’d waged against each other. Having attended the same session four years ago, where we were sneered and snapped at by Bob Shrum, I was prepared for the worst. I found team Obama to be confident and extremely satisfied with their victory, but also smart, curious, interesting, and, for the most part, gracious. As a veteran of the Bush 2004 campaign, I was especially heartened to hear David Plouffe credit the Bush 2004 model as an inspiration.
But some of the most heartwarming stories I’ve heard this holiday season are the ones that have leaked out of both the East and West wings of the White House about George and Laura Bush, two people whose grace has gone under-reported and unappreciated for too long. After the Obamas' first trip to the White House, where, as has been widely reported, the Bushes welcomed the Obamas with genuine warmth and excitement, Laura Bush has thrown open the residence for further inspection by the Obama family. According to Democratic sources, both George and Laura Bush have offered support and reassurance to the Obama family about life in the biggest fish bowl in the world. Michelle Obama has already benefited from a well-timed lifeline thrown to her by Laura Bush during the campaign. This wasn’t a political calculation, or an effort to be part of the story. Laura Bush simply saw an opportunity to extend a little compassion to someone who needed it.
George Bush reportedly fought back tears at a recent holiday gathering with advance staff—the unsung heroes of any White House. According to one former staffer who attended, Bush choked up as he thanked them for their years of service. I saw something similar four years ago when, on Election Day 2004, with the outcome far from certain, President Bush walked up to every staff member on Air Force One and thanked them for their tireless work on his behalf. The Bushes have invited former staffers back to the White House this holiday season for one last visit to the place we called home for 70-hour work weeks. I will cherish one last stroll through the grand rooms, one last photo by the Christmas tree, one last look at the East Room as it sparkles with holiday lights and decorations, and one last opportunity to bask in the glow of their grace.
Nicolle Wallace served as a senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign from May 2008 to November 2008. Prior to joining the McCain campaign, she worked as a political analyst at CBS News. She served George W. Bush as an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House from January 2005 to June 2006, as communications director for President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, and as special assistant to the president and director of media affairs at the White House.
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deanpaul1
The President choked up? How shocking! This is not news - this is fluff. We know the President is human, and we know he cares deeply about his own agenda, one that has driven the the country into the most debilitating downward spiral in recent history. No accountability at all, only pathetic attempts to rewrite his own deceptive actions. Mr. Bush is a true addict, still lying, still deeply in denial.
Much like Bush when it comes to his eight years in office, and McCain for the despicable losing campaign he ran, Nicole Wallace has provided little accountability for her role in said campaign. No one spit out blatant lies about Obama as fluidly as Ms. Wallace and now she wants all to believe how respectful she feels towards Obama and his team. Suddenly we're supposed to forget all the smears and misrepresentations Ms. Wallace foisted upon our President-elect. I don't think so. Like Bush, she's squarely in the not to be trusted category; able and willing to misrepresent the facts the moment a camera or a blog is in sight. Go find some integrity, lady, and spare us your image remake.
zuchev
This is all crap. Wallace should consider herself lucky she's not hauled off to the Hague with the rest of these thugs who will end up on trial for war crimes. I get misty eyed thinking about that!
patann
I think the President has checked out of this job already and dried his tears in spite of our country's severe economic suffering and continuing loss of life in Iraq and Afghanistan. Life goes on for "W" without any worry about what he calls "do overs". He seems to be more into Dallas real estate than national emergencies, anyway.
Ms Wallace, too, chooses to follow a disingenuous path. Listened to many of her diatribes supporting McCain/Palin and often wondered how Nicole could really believe in her rhetoric. She has a nice smile, though!
saramed
So easily impressed, Nicolle. I mean, come on. So our elected officials are capable of putting on a smiling face when the cameras are rolling and they express their gratitude to the people who helped keep them employed and in power... and you're practically exploding with tears of joy over it?
BlueShark
Yup...
...deanpaul1 nailed it.
PamelaB
She must think we are stupid. Not for a minute does she have respect for Obama, his team or those of us who voted for him. She can't take back the nasty, mean spirited attitude she displayed throughout the campaign. She showed her true colors then.
SteveStephens
If one of my family got killed in Irag because of his lies, I warm and fuzzy is something I would not be feeling about George Bushl
Cinghiale
Yawn. Another pretty fascist gets a free pass on TDB. First it was that awful Ana Marie Cox puff piece on Nicole Wallace, now you've just given her a byline.
Here's an idea - let's reward competence instead of a pretty smile. Nicole Wallace was senior advisor to a completely inept campaign. Remember McCain's return to DC to save us from the budget crisis? The selection of Palin as running mate? The "socialist" message. Nicole should be looking for hole to hide in.
But, hey, cute dress!
funkychicken
Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
cpolicano
As a Democrat who voted for Obama, methinks y'all some mighty sore winners. Lighten up... Tis the season and it's nice to know there's civility in DC -- especially when it's hard to find in cyberspace.
Darren7160
I guess I should care about what this person writes... but I just don't. Seriously, I couldn't care less whether or not the most inept, corrupt and shameful President in out times sheds a tear or chokes up. I men, who cares?
Personally, I don't give a damn and I have no interest in being magnanimous to the Republicans. For the past 8 years I have been called every name in the book. I am a disabled Vet who, before the way and since, opposed the way. I was called a traitor, unGodly (because my faith doesn't depend on the sponsorship of the government by putting up Christmas decorations), anti-Family values (as a single parent of two wonderful kids, I would match my kids against those of Bush in a heartbeat!).
When people spoke out against the war, did this supposedly wonderful President explain to the people that popular speech requires no protection? That it is unpopular speech that needs protection? That what our boys were dying for was for the right of the Iraqi people o speak things that are unpopular?
No. He encouraged the divisive attacks against people who also, like Liberman, "... who simply stood up for what they believed in."
So, until the Republican party takes a real good look at the truth of their behavior over the past 8 years... I DO NOT CARE IF THIS PRESIDENT CRIED HIMSELF TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT!
We know that won't happen. Just ask him, he can't think of anything that he has ever done wrong.
Nice try at revisionsim. I give it a C-
Veronicaxy
No mention of the shameful tactics to smear Obama personally, leveraging the basest fears in our people.
Yes that last speech was great, too bad its thinking didn't inform the entire campaign -- they'd probably have won.
rigoddamndiculous
did anyone REALLY expect to read otherwise from a professional political snakecharmer? Or did you just expect her to just fade away? I personally don't buy her attempts to "humanize" the maligned. I don't hold TDB at fault for providing her a platform. it made for an "interesting" read and a peek into a perspective i definitely don't share of course thats assuming she actually believes the ideas she's been paid to espouse.
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thibodeaux41
This is some JUNK!!! The MacSame's are delusional if they think the Country is going to forget about the ROTTEN, ROVIEAN campaign they ran.
Think if we had to deal with this bunch for another term of Neo-Con politics; THE HORROR!! THE HORROR!!
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