Colin Powell Endorses Obama
Because Obama is a “transformative” figure (read: he’s black) and because he’s better able to repair America’s standing in the world.
He also thinks Palin was a poor pick for VP.
WASHINGTON – Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president, describing the Illinois senator as a “transformational figure.”
Powell says both Obama and Republican John McCain are qualified to be commander in chief. But, in an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation’s economic problems as well as help improve it’s standing in the world.
Powell expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain’s campaign, as well as in his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee. Powell says he does not believe Palin is ready to take over as president, if necessary.
Powell, while a long-time Republican, was never really what anyone would consider a conservative. He’s always leaned to the left on domestic policy, and his participation in Republican administrations has typically been limited to foreign policy. So his endorsement of Obama’s leftism domestically is hardly surprising. It’s no more surprising than “Republican” Lincoln Chaffee endorsing Obama.
But Powell’s assertion that Obama will help America’s standing in the world is a bit odd. Has America’s standing in the world really been diminished? Certainly the media loves to focus on the anti-American hordes in places like Europe, but since President Bush was elected the world has seemed to move closer to America rather than further away. World leaders who were once some of the most vicious critics of American foreign policy and President Bush (Paul Martin in Canada, Gerhard Schroeder in Germany and Jaques Chirac of France) have all been voted out of office and replaced with more America-friendly leaders (Stephen Harper, Angela Merkel and Nick Sarkozy, respectively).
The “America has lost standing in the world” meme is a delusion the media and the left has created for themselves in order to justify their hatred of President Bush. Certain elements in the world have always hated us. Trying to leverage their hatred for our country for domestic political gain is nothing short of loathsome.
As for Powell, he’s certainly free to his opinion. Plenty of Democrats have endorsed McCain (including, most prominently, Senator Joe Lieberman). I really don’t see why this matters so much. Except that it’s a convenient talking point for the most liberal Senator in the Senate.
