McCain didn't simply serve his country. He was a POW in the abolute worse conditions you can imagine for around 5 years. He was offered the chance to go home early while letting someone else take his place, because his father was an Admiral. He refused.
That takes balls and character, knowing what you'd be in for. Both his arms were broken, to this day he can't raise his arms very high and its been pointed out that's why you often don't see him salute.
Does that make him a good president? No. But it shows enormous character, and a lot of people respect him for it. He has a history of reforming and reaching across the aisle in congress, and people respect him for it.
So while it may not appeal to hear about someones service record over and over again, he was a Hero in the truest sense of the word. In America we worship Heroes. Sounds stupid but that's what we do.
So in terms of a character issue, its one of the key points of his campaign. Contrast that with Barack Obama, who to this day has refused to give detailed answers about his relationship with Bill Ayers, and played like a deer in the headlights in response to Rev. Wright - a man he has known for 20 years, was his pastor, and baptised his children. You cannot say you had no idea after all that unless you are an absolute bafoon. Which plays directly into concerns about his judgement of character and judgement in general. I especially don't like how his campaign kept trying to bring up the race issue. Confront Obama on an issue and you're a racist, critize Obama and you're a racist. Don't agree with Obama and you're a racist. McCain never once that I can recall brought up the fact Obama was black, at least not in a way as to say "This man is BLACK!".
Obama on the other hand, took every chance he could to REMIND people he was black.
History was no doubt made, and that's the way its gonna be. But the media was in the tank to get him elected, MSNBC took a personal shot at Sarah Palin under the guise of a HARD NEWS BANNER - Hard News is supposed to be the cream of the crop, unbiased, not like the pundit shows people always lambast (Dan Abrams, Bill O'Reily, Hannity & Colmes, Keith Olbermann, Chris Mathews - the latter two fired for showing clear bias on the air)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=73968
Here's an interesting tidbit on how much the media contributed during the election... see a trend?
http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=301702713742569
I have no idea what else is on the site, just referencing the chart.. Article is a good read tho.
So yeah I'm a little upset that Obama won, not because he was a good candidate, but because he outspent everyone else by millions, and the media was on his side.. He goes to Iraq and 3 news anchors follow him. McCain made previous trips over a 4 month span, not so much as a low ranking peon followed him.. So yeah, whatever I guess..
Like I said, I'll judge him on the policies he makes. Pray they are decent.