Premise: WASHINGTON--Former U.S. presidents George Bush and Barack Obama hailed John McCain as a model of enduring American virtue at a service Saturday for the late Arizona Senator and two-time Republican presidential candidate, who died Aug. 25 at age 81. Speaking before his flag-draped casket under the soaring stone arches of the Washington National Cathedral, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama denounced what they characterized as the toxic partisanship currently in the capital and praised Mr. McCain's ability to rise above it. ...
Hypothesis: Obama thought of McCain as a model of American virtue.