WASHINGTON — John McCain got a White House embrace from President Bush on Wednesday, along with the party perks that go with sewing up the Republican nomination.
Bush, who defeated McCain in a bitter 2000 primary campaign before winning the presidency, said the Arizona senator’s “incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance” carried him to the nomination this time.
Those characteristics, Bush said, are what the nation needs in a president: “somebody that can handle the tough decisions, somebody who won’t flinch in the face of danger.”
The words held special resonance as the president who ordered the Iraq invasion five years ago stood outside the White House alongside one of the war’s most resolute supporters. Neither man mentioned Iraq, though Bush said McCain would be “sitting in there behind that desk making decisions on war and peace.”
Even that mention was coupled with Bush’s lighter statement that “I’m going to be in Crawford with my feet up.”
“I’m very honored and humbled,” McCain said as he accepted Bush’s endorsement.
Bush’s praise of McCain as the party’s next standard-bearer came a day after the senator sealed the GOP nomination by gaining the required 1,191 delegates. Republicans won’t officially nominate McCain until early September at the party’s national convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Hoping to spoil the GOP party, Democrats wasted no time in tagging McCain’s candidacy as a continuation of the Bush presidency.
“John McCain just doesn’t get it,” said Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman. “All he offers is four more years of the failed Bush economy, an endless war in Iraq and shameless hypocrisy on ethics reform. The fact is, the American people want change, not another out-of-touch Bush Republican, and Democrats welcome the opportunity to draw this contrast for voters.”
Republicans claimed strength in unity. GOP House and Senate leaders emerged from a meeting with Bush later to give McCain a plug.
“I think our party is completely unified behind Sen. McCain,” Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said, dismissing fissures in the GOP’s base over McCain’s candidacy.
Bush’s support sends a strong signal to Republican critics to fall in line. The party’s right flank long has viewed McCain skeptically for working with Democrats on issues that make conservatives cringe, including a comprehensive immigration plan and campaign-finance reform.
Despite Bush’s low ratings in general surveys, he remains a well-liked figure with the GOP rank and file.
