Two years in, the 2008 presidential election is over and done with. History has been made. Also, a legacy has been ruined.

To me, this election has been about watching Sen. John McCain sell his soul in an attempt to win the presidency. As he said on Saturday Night Live last weekend, Barack Obama has many more years to run for president but McCain doesn’t.

McCain appeared to feel he was owed being the president after George W. Bush sucker punched him 2000. After all, McCain did hire the same advisors that Bush used to smear McCain with eight years ago.

I want a president who wants to be the president. I want someone who feels he is better than us, smarter than us, knows what to do when things get rocky. I do not want a president who can easily be likened to Gollum while on the campaign trail.

The office of the president is a privilege and a great responsibility. It is not merely something you are given because you’ve been working in government and hit a glass ceiling.

This election season allowed the country to watch McCain forsake his maverick status to win over the religious part of the Republican base by embracing people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who he had previously called “agents of intolerance.” After Mike Huckabee started to win primary elections, McCain seemed to realize that he needed their support.

So the maverick then turns around and selects (or perhaps was forced) the extremely religious Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. This instantly quells the party base, wins over the people that doubt McCain’s credentials and sells out his legacy.

Here was a man who built his reputation on talking tough to his own party and supposedly doing things his way. If he was a real maverick, he would have picked Sen. Joe Liberman or Gov. Tom Ridge and told the Republican Party to sit down and shut up. (Or, as Stephen Colbert said, if McCain was a real maverick, he should have endorsed Obama.)

I remember back in the 2000 election, before I was old enough to vote, that perhaps John McCain wouldn’t be that bad of a president. He seemed to be a real compassionate conservative who wanted what was best for the country.

Watching this race unfold, McCain of 2000 is gone. Instead we have a man who allowed his “supporters” at rallies to yell “kill him,” “terrorist” and “off with his head” about Obama.

What a shame. What great irony that his slogan was Country First when in actuality it was about him. In a climate that does not favor Republicans, McCain made his play, sold is soul and lost. Now it’s back to the Senate. It’s time to retire Sen. McCain. You’ve served your country well. It’s just a shame how this campaign was your final act.