If John McCain's memoir, "Faith of My Fathers" is to be believed than John McCain felt a call to civic duty, to a cause greater than himself, during his harrowing days as a POW during the Vietnam War. When John McCain came home from Vietnam he stayed true to his new found principles and devoted himself to civic service first for the Navy and then in the House, and eventually aa a Senator in Washington, where he served for two decades. All the while John McCain bided his time until he felt it was the right time for him to become President. Only it doesn't work that way, which is what John McCain doesn't understand.
In 2000, John McCain felt that, as the star of the Party it was his turn to be the nominee of the Republican Party, only he was beaten by George Bush through a campaign fueled by slander and innuendo. Now eight years later John McCain is finally in a position to become what he believes is his by right. In his mind Barack Obama doesnt deserve to be President because he hasnt paid his dues, and hasn't waited his turn. So as the gap widened in the polls and John McCain saw his dream slipping away he became spiteful and started yelling at anyone who would listen how much they needed him and why he deserved to be their leader. This man who had once felt that greatness was achieved through serving a greater purpose has now become the very embodiment of self-serving, self aggrandizement.
He, who had once shied away from speaking of his days as a POW now used it as a shield against questions of policy, and who attacks Obama for not being patriotic. He, who was once a true individual, has become that which he once loathed, a partisan panderer. During the second debate, his feeling of entitlement came roaring out when he pointed to Barack Obama, and called him, "that one." As in that one that is all of you and not me, because I am meant for something greater. But as Barack is wont to say, John McCain just doesn't get it, no one deserves to be president no matter how much you feel your entitled to it.