去年の7月にオバマケアのskinny repealがトランプと共和党指導層の企みで可決されそうになった時に、病床から急遽駆け付けたジョン・マケインが決定的な一票を投じてオバマケアを一時的に救った（「オバマケアの命運」）。あれから1年、ヒーローは逝ってしまった。トランプと彼に阿る共和党議員たちによってずたずたに分断されてしまったアメリカに、今一番必要なのはマケインのような気骨のある共和党議員だというのに。

ジョン・マケインの冥福を祈り、長女、Meghan McCainが発表した言葉を張り付けておきたい。最初は、訳しながら脚色しようかとも思ったが、それでは失礼になるので、原文のまま置いた。最後の文、" The dream is ended: this is the morning"、はC. S. LewisのThe Last Battleからの引用らしい。自分の子供にこのような文章で送られるとは、ジョン・マケインはやはり僕のヒーローだ。

My father, United States Senator John Sidney McCain III, departed this life today.

I was with my father at his end, as he was with me at my beginning. In the thirty-three years we shared together, he raised me, taught me, corrected me, comforted me, encouraged me, and supported me in all things. He loved me, and I loved him. He taught me how to live. His love and his care, ever present, always unfailing, took me from a girl to a woman — and he showed me what it is to be a man.

All that I am is thanks to him. Now that he is gone, the task of my lifetime is to live up to his example, his expectations, and his love.

My father’s passing comes with sorrow and grief for me, for my mother, for my brothers, and for my sisters. He was a great fire who burned bright, and we lived in his light and warmth for so very long. We know that his flame lives on, in each of us. The days and years to come will not be the same without my dad — but they will be good days, filled with life and love, because of the example he lived for us.

Your prayers, for his soul and for our family, are sincerely appreciated.

My father is gone, and I miss him as only an adoring daughter can. But in this loss, and in this sorrow, I take comfort in this: John McCain, hero of the republic and to his little girl, wakes today to something more glorious than anything on this earth. Today the warrior enters his true and eternal life, greeted by those who have gone before him, rising to meet the Author of All Things:

"The dream is ended: this is the morning.”