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McGovern Revels In Obama Election Victory
MITCHELL (AP) — Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern says he feels “strangely vindicated” by Barack Obama’s election victory.
McGovern said the feeling came over him Tuesday night as he watched election returns and that it was the best political feeling he’s had since he left politics. He called the election of a black man as president “a great historic moment in the life of the country.”
“Now we can truly say all people are created equal,” said McGovern. “We don’t even use Jefferson’s quote, ’all men are created equal.’ It’s ’all people are created equal,’ and that’s the great dream of America, that any citizen of this land can aspire to the highest office.”
McGovern, 86, said the principles he advocated in his 1972 presidential campaign were the same ones Obama pressed in 2008.
The campaign slogan for McGovern, who lost the ’72 election to Richard Nixon, was “Come Home, America.” He had called for the nation to return to its “founding principles” and put an end to an unpopular war in Vietnam.
McGovern said Obama made the same sort of call but “did it more skillfully. He was better funded, he was better organized, he was more deliberate in all of his decisions.”
Among McGovern’s 1972 missteps:
— His convention acceptance speech came on during the wee hours of the morning when no one was awake to see it on television.
— He dropped then-running mate Thomas Eagleton after it was learned that Eagleton had received electroshock treatments for depression.
McGovern won another Senate term after his 1972 presidential defeat but lost in 1980. He tried again for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and failed.
McGovern said the feeling came over him Tuesday night as he watched election returns and that it was the best political feeling he’s had since he left politics. He called the election of a black man as president “a great historic moment in the life of the country.”
“Now we can truly say all people are created equal,” said McGovern. “We don’t even use Jefferson’s quote, ’all men are created equal.’ It’s ’all people are created equal,’ and that’s the great dream of America, that any citizen of this land can aspire to the highest office.”
McGovern, 86, said the principles he advocated in his 1972 presidential campaign were the same ones Obama pressed in 2008.
The campaign slogan for McGovern, who lost the ’72 election to Richard Nixon, was “Come Home, America.” He had called for the nation to return to its “founding principles” and put an end to an unpopular war in Vietnam.
McGovern said Obama made the same sort of call but “did it more skillfully. He was better funded, he was better organized, he was more deliberate in all of his decisions.”
Among McGovern’s 1972 missteps:
— His convention acceptance speech came on during the wee hours of the morning when no one was awake to see it on television.
— He dropped then-running mate Thomas Eagleton after it was learned that Eagleton had received electroshock treatments for depression.
McGovern won another Senate term after his 1972 presidential defeat but lost in 1980. He tried again for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and failed.
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