John McCain's "Mavarick" label was pretty much lost after his failed 2008 presidential campaign, but since Donald Trump was elected, John McCain has decided to take on him and his own party, while blasting the Democrats at the same time. Just yesterday McCain put out an op-ed on the Financial Times blasting Donald Trump on trade, and today he is tkaing on President Obama's last foreign policy speech.
Obama gave his last foreign policy speech yesterday at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, FL. He touted the "successes" agains ISIL and painted a very rosey picture of the efforts to tackle terrorism:
"The terrorist threat is real and it is dangerous. But unlike fascism and communism, today's extremists are do not threaten the world order. They are thugs and they are murderers and they should be treated that way...Staying true to our traditions as a nation of laws advances our security as well as our values." Obama made the case the United States should retain its' ban on the use of torture and close the military prison in GITMO in order to "deal with suspected terrorists through our justice system."
John McCain hit back almost immediatelly through a press release:
President Obama’s speech was nothing more than a feeble attempt to evade the harsh judgment of history. But to the American people, our emboldened enemies, and our dispirited allies, his legacy on counterterrorism is unmistakably clear: a disastrous withdrawal from Iraq, the terrorist rampage of ISIL, an indecisive approach to the war in Afghanistan that has empowered the Taliban, and an indifferent approach to the carnage in Syria on which our terrorist enemies have thrived. No rhetorical conceit will alter history’s verdict.
.@POTUS's counterterrorism speech today was nothing more than a feeble attempt to evade harsh judgment of history https://t.co/WJ3sg5087m
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) December 6, 2016
The President-Elect has not yet taken office, but one can imagine given their history that John McCain will be "taking on his own party" quite a bit over this next term.