Barack Obama delivered a eulogy for John McCain on Saturday morning at the National Cathedral, in which he put into sharp relief the importance of bipartisanship—a theme that ran throughout the memorial service. Speaking before assembled array of political leaders, Obama said that McCain made him and fellow former McCain rival George W. Bush "better presidents, just as he made the Senate better, just as he made the country better."

Before his death from brain cancer last Saturday, Senator McCain carefully planned his memorial service, selecting Obama and fellow former president George W. Bush to be speakers and pointedly excluding sitting president Donald Trump from the proceedings. Like Obama, Bush bested McCain in an election, the 2000 Republican primary.

In his eulogy, Obama admitted to “a certain surprise” at being asked to speak at McCain’s memorial. The selection of his opponents as eulogizers "showed his irreverence, his sense of humor, and a mischievous streak,” said Obama. "After all, what better way to get the last laugh than to make George and I say nice things about him before a national audience.”

Obama, who is often reluctant to criticize his successor, nonetheless joined his fellow eulogizers in not-s0-subtly comparing McCain to the absent Trump. "He understood that if we get in the habit of bending the truth to suit political expediency or party orthodoxy, our democracy will not work,” Obama said of McCain.

“What John understood, as JFK understood, as Ronald Regan understood, is that part of what makes our country great is that our membership is based not on our bloodline, not on what we look like, on what our last names are,” said Obama. "It’s not based on where our parents or grandparents came from, or how recently they arrived, but on adherence to a common creed: That all of us are created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.”

"So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty,” said Obama. "Trafficking in bombastic manufactured outrage, it's politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that. He called on us to be better than that."

Read the full transcript here, and watch Obama’s remarks below.

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Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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