A Sad Day for McCain Supporters

As Senator John McCain gave his concession speech at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix Arizona last night, he urged his supporters to overlook their differences with Senator Barack Obama and unite for the good of the country.

"Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country. And I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face," he said.

While McCain acknowledged defeat and was ready to support Obama, not all supporters were as ready to devote themselves to McCain's rival Obama. Just the mention of the Democrat's name spurred boos from the crowd of McCain supporters. Other McCain voters used the Internet to vent their frustrations.

McCain's concession was similar to that of Senator Hillary Clinton when she stepped down from her campaign last June and urged her 18 million voters to rally behind Obama. Yet as Clinton campaigned and rallied for Obama, it was uncertain whether her voters would follow, just as we are seeing with McCain supporters now.

Obama won with the support of 63 million voters, but he must now win the confidence of the other 56 million who believed that McCain was the better candidate. Obama reached out to those voters in his victory speech Tuesday night, telling them, "I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

As Obama transitions into the White House, he should ask McCain to help set a new outlook in this country, democratic strategist Donna Brazile says. "A tone that would allow the American people to come together. The one mistake that we continue to make is that we label people. We say you're conservatives, liberal, progressive, right wing, left wing. I think people just want to spend one day being Americans. They want to come together around a common purpose, common values," she said.