Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Senator McCain may have represented the people of Arizona, but in doing so, he changed the world. His family legacy and leadership are, actually, partly rooted in the Pacific. He met his wife, Cindy, in Honolulu, and generations of McCains have left their mark on the region as his grandfather served in the Pacific theater as an admiral in World War II, as his father commanded the Armed Forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam war, and as John S. McCain III became the most famous POW of the Vietnam war. His relationship with the region began with those conflicts--with pain and with loss--but he never let that beginning define his views of the Asia-Pacific. As a Senator, he called for the United States to transform the peace we made with Vietnam into a partnership. It is thanks, in part, to him that the United States now works closely with Vietnam on everything from economic development to counterterrorism, and the people of Vietnam know it. The monument that marks where he was captured as a naval pilot in Vietnam has turned into a shrine this week, with people leaving flowers in memory of the man who helped to normalize relations between our two nations. This is just one of the ways in which Senator McCain shaped the Pacific. Just a few years ago, he designed the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative in order to increase stability and to help professionalize militaries in the region, including the military of Vietnam.…”