Albatrosses for Obama
Colin Powell cites Messianic qualities in his endOrsement. CNN:
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat’s “ability to inspire” and the “inclusive nature of his campaign.”
“I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I’ll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama,” Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain’s campaign, such as the campaign’s attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.
“I think that’s inappropriate. I understand what politics is about — I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for,” he said.
Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.
Yeah, but that was before he excluded himself, and well before both sides became disgusted with him. There are the people who slam him for carrying Bush’s water. He lied, people died. Then there the people who slam him for lying about carrying Bush’s water and betraying the administration he was serving.
“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell said.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, McCain said he respects and admires Powell, and the announcement “doesn’t come as a surprise.”
“I’m also very pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state — Secretaries [Henry] Kissinger, [James] Baker, [Lawrence] Eagleburger, and [Alexander] Haig — and I’m proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired Army generals and admirals,” McCain said.
Powell served as Secretary of State under President Bush from 2001 to 2005.
…
The former general, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the Bush administration, noted that the next president will need to work to restore America’s standing in the world.
Powell gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in support of George W. Bush in 2000.
Powell said Sunday that he has no plans to campaign for Obama.
Bummer. It would be fun to watch the Code Pink crowd picketing Obama rallies.
Malkin on the lovefest.
Juan Cole infers: Powell’s a racist … like me!
Palin’s Republican Party is “becoming narrower.” He does not initially spell out what he means by this charge, but it can be inferred by his later comments and by reverse-engineering what he says about Obama. Palin’s Republican Party is rural or rurban, small-town, and ethnically homogeneous (i.e. “white”)–also, it might be said, largely Protestant. She does not bring along with her many of the youth, or ethnic America (which is heading for 51% of the population in a couple of decades), or urban populations. Rural conservative white Protestantism may be a backbone of the Republican Party, but it is not a sufficient basis for ruling a dynamic, diverse country such as the U.S.
In contrast, he says, “Mr. Obama . . . has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He’s crossing lines–ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He’s thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values. “
Uh oh, we’re in the villages again. But I guess he’s right. Way more inclusive, cross-ethnic, cross-racial, cross-generational, when you can count among your high-profile backers a black guy of humble origins who was part of that whole “to save this village we had to destroy it” thing in the 1960s and another guy, white of privileged background, who was part of the “to save this country we have to blow it up” movement.
Topics: pols
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:53 am on Sunday, October 19, 2008
4 Responses to “Albatrosses for Obama”
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October 19th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Powell has been in a downward spiral for years and his statements today are the most laughable yet. His criticism of McCain for having had the temerity of selecting Sarah Palin is so shallow (i.e., is she ready to step in? when his guy in the #1 slot has no experience) that I am beginning to question whether he ever was the brilliant leader his press clippings proclaim. He wouldn’t be the first one to gain a reputation for competence based on the achievements of his underlings. It is not the endorsement itself that is mind-boggling, but the statements allegedly in support of it.
October 19th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
How does he square his endorsement, with one of the statements he made that I respected him most for. ” If you break it, you own it, you fix it”. Obama refused to fix it with Iraq.
October 19th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
And when will people realize that an Exit Strategy is not a victory strategy but rather an Exit Strategy leaves one’s humiliated and vengeful enemy in place to work behind the scenes killing dissenters, funding terrorists, stockpiling weapons and corrupting the U.N.?
October 19th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I am sure that at least eight people will vote for Hussein because of this endorsement.