McCain: "It's tough, tough" to be proud of America

McCain doesn't pick up on Michelle Obama joke
Jonathan Martin
The Politico

So a man finally got a question into McCain and he had a very different sort of question.

The questioner noted that he had been educated at Princeton and Harvard and made more than $300,000 a year.

"How can I be proud of my country?" he asked.

Get it — he was mocking Michelle Obama and her statement earlier this year that her husband had for the first time in her life made her proud of her country.

Well, McCain either missed the joke or decided to ignore it and answer the question literally. I think it was the former because the individual asking the question had a thick accent that sounded to be either Indian or Pakistani, perhaps suggesting to McCain a recent immigrant grappling with America's image abroad.

"I’ll admit to you that it’s tough, it’s tough in some respects," McCain said, seeming to lend credence to Michelle Obama's observation.

McCain said America needed to be "more humble, more inclusive."

He observed that one of the ways to be proud of the country was to look at our history — and the sacrifices U.S. troops have made abroad.

McCain let his questioner follow up and the individual repeated, but didn't clarify, his line.

In closing, McCain said he was proud of America in part "because of you and what you've been able to achieve and accomplish."