© 2026 ABC News

ABC News has reached out to the White House and Obama's representatives, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

McCain has a long history of reaching out to lawmakers across the political aisle to pass major legislation in the Senate and of overcoming political differences. The Arizona senator lost to fellow Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 GOP primary for president.

Bush paid tribute to McCain on Saturday, writing, \"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order.\"

Former Pres. George W. Bush: \"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order.\" https://t.co/Fa0Xr0oHKe pic.twitter.com/BXrXMpkTPr

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 26, 2018
\"PHOTO:
Justin Lane/EPA via Shutterstock
PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate John Mccain and democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama greet each other at the start of the final presidential debate in Hempstead, New York, Oct. 15, 2008.
>

Obama, who defeated McCain in the 2008 presidential election, offered his condolences to the McCain family and shared a heartfelt tribute to the Arizona senator in a statement on Saturday.

“John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics,” he wrote. “But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher — the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed.

Former Pres. Barack Obama shares a tribute to Sen. John McCain https://t.co/Fa0Xr0oHKe pic.twitter.com/GCOYCk7vjc

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 26, 2018
\"PHOTO:
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate John McCain shakes hands with President George W. Bush after receiving his endorsement in the Rose Garden of the White House,March 5, 2008.
>

McCain's fellow Arizona senator, Republican Jeff Flake, said on \"This Week\" Sunday that McCain's greatest lesson is “to forgive” and “to see the good in his opponents.\"

Photos: Senator John McCain through the years

Flake added that we can honor McCain's legacy by \"seeing the good in our opponents, by being quick to forgive, by realizing that there's something more important than ourselves, to put service over and above our self interest.\"

Sen. Jeff Flake says we can honor John McCain's legacy by \"seeing the good in our opponents, by being quick to forgive, by realizing that there's something more important than ourselves, to put service over and above our self interest\" https://t.co/mjMAuxYdY9 #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/4Y6TRU5xcS

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 26, 2018
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