Powell says:
- Obama is a "transformational figure."
- Obama can handle our economic troubles better than Senator John McCain can.
- Obama will improve America's standing around the world.
- Obama's rhetorical skills are actually a good qualification for a President, not a liability (but Rebecca's readers already know that!).
- McCain's campaign has been too negative.
- Governor Sarah Palin is not ready to be President.
Powell sees the last several weeks, especially the ecconomic crisis, as a "final exam," and he was put off by McCain's apparent uncertainty in how to respond to the crisis. He also says that Palin's performance over the last several weeks has shown her not to be ready for the job and has thus called into question McCain's judgment. Powell feels Obama has shown "intellectual vigor" and chosen a VP who is ready to take the reins on day one. While McCain has shown a "narrower and narrower" approach, Obama also offers a "more inclusive broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people." Powell sees the Bill Ayers situation as irrelevant to the problems that really matter and wonders why the McCain campaign would focus on him when McCain himself says Ayers is just a "washed-up terrorist." Powell says McCain's focus on Ayers is "inappropriate." Powell also is uncomfortable with the potential for a further rightward shift on the Supreme Court.
Powell is also offended that the GOP has been pushing the lie that Obama is a Muslim:
The correct answer is he is not a Muslim, he is a Christian... but the really right answer is, What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be President? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing things in America.
So, anyone want to call Colin Powell an unpatriotic socialist? The comment line is open....
I hope the hyper polarization the republicans are selling comes back to bite them. The media here needs to play a much larger role in mediating some of this rhetoric. The day after they started accusing Obama of "associating" with terrorists the news channels should have been constantly flogging them.
ReplyDeleteI'm really disappointed that no one on television is really standing up and attacking these claims. I suppose after 8 years of Bush they've just given up.
Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama! That's the end of John McCain's Presidential hopes.
ReplyDeleteI am not sold on Obama, but I hope the people that are influencing this election are doing it for the right reasons and that everything works out for the best, FOR EVERYONE!
ReplyDeleteGod help us all!
Do you really think we are going to have a difinitive answer within one week of the election as to who the winner is??? I see the McCain camp fighting it in court for voter fraud. I see the Obama camp fighting over racism. I hope whomever the loser is, takes the high road and bows out gracefully.
pennypincher,
ReplyDeleteThings may not always be as they seem and God may not now be able to help us.
with regret I post
anon
Tony, Obama is more divisive as anything McCain has said. The meddia has done nothing to mediate some of Obama's class warfare rhetoric or to say anything negative about the annointed one, and the media has not done its job of investigate reporting when it comes to Obama. And then if McCain brings any of this up, you and the media give him heck.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama wins this country is in for a huge surprise in more ways than one. And it will be more divisive than anything McCain or the Reps have done.
I am very afraid of the liberal democrats controlling everything.
ReplyDeleteNo checks and balances on anything.
We may regret that greatly for many years.
Most endorsements have their 15 minutes of fame then fade, so Powell's endorsement won't affect a thing. McCain has been endorsed by 4 previous Secretaries of State and current Secretary of State Rice, so if you have five supporting you and one supporting your opponent, does that mean you'll win? It doesn't mean a thing. Most endorsements are made for the person doing the endorsing, trying to keep their name and face in front of the public so they can continue to earn their speaking fees. Colin Powell makes huge money as a speaker and his endorsement simply keeps his face and name in front of the public.
ReplyDeleteWhen four Republican Secretaries of State endorse the Republican candidate, that's not news. When a Republican Secretary of State who served the current administration endorses the Democratic candidate, that's news. Call me when Albright switches her endorsement to McCain (ha ha ha ha ha!).
ReplyDeleteTony is right: the big news in this endorsement is Powell's calling the Republicans out for their divisiveness. Base your campaign around alienating people, and you lose. Powell rightly identifies a divisiveness in the GOP's rhetoric and smears of Obama and Islam that is ten times more unAmerican than any of the alleged "class warfare" Obama might wage. Powell is thus sending his own party to the woodshed.
Just goes to show that there are no true Republicans of the Jefferson and Lincoln tradition left. Might as well merge the two parties and chose a name: I vote for Democans or Republicrats. Or, in the interest of healing the divisiveness, just call it The Party.
ReplyDelete"The Party!" Isn't that what they called it in the old Soviet Union? Ach!
ReplyDelete