McCain was a total idiot as far as running a campaign and he surrounded himself with idiots including his idiot daughter. Of course, Obama is praising the loser McCain and wants his current opponent to run the same kind of campaign.
My sense is that McCain has never run a competitive race in his life, apart from going up against Bush in 2000 in the primaries and Obama in 2008. As a GOP senatorial candidate, his war hero record won his primary races, and as long as the electorate was majority Republican, he was a lock. Romney - on the other hand - has run only competitive races. His races in MA have been really difficult, given that he does represent the GOP, whereas the electorate is overwhelmingly liberal. He went up against McCain in 2008 with a liberal/moderate record established by his races in MA, as contrasted against McCain's war hero record. It's a miracle he was the runner-up. I'm still surprised that he won the GOP nomination this time around, given the amount of flak that came his way. He's not my candidate of choice, but he's certainly someone who doesn't shrink from a challenge, whether in the business or political world.