Colin Powell drops the bomb: thud
October 19, 2008
Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama today.
Colin Powell has been a significant leader in the United States. The first African-American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a distinguished leader of our diplomatic corps as Secretary of State. He is a capable individual who has built a reputation for being reasoned, steady and honorable; above the political frey.
Colin Powell’s endorsement, sadly, epitomizes politics over substance.
This endorsement will be extremely helpful to Barack Obama. As I write this, my TwitterFox is popping up a stream of left-wing praise for Powell from Rachel Maddow to the Huffington Post which has six post on the topic already. We are certain to hear Powell praised incessantly this coming week. But was this endorsement about Powell’s assesment of the best person for the job?
Powell expressed concern about McCain’s handling of the financial crisis, and he expressed concern about the rightward shift of the Republican party in recent years. He stated the reason for his support of Obama is Obama’s ability “to inspire,” because his campaign is “inclusive,” because of “his rhetorical abilities,” and he has both “style and substance.” In other words, Barack Obama makes Colin Powell feel good and he doesn’t like the conservative bent of the Republican party. It’s all available in the video linked below.
Colin Powell has been at best a half-hearted Republican for some years. But, in his address to the 1996 Republican National Convention, he gave voice to many republican prinicples: less government, growing business, lower taxes. Yet he called for compassion in our politics and not forgetting the problems with “health care” and “welfare reform.” While aligning himself with the Republican party, he has always somewhat grudgingly extolled the virtues of the free-market while yearning for a government of “compassion.”
In the 2000 presidential race, George W. Bush picked up on this theme and took it to its logical conclusion; conservative ideology from the stump, strong (though overreaching) defense, tipping the hand to fiscal and social conservatives. But in practice, the Bush administration grew government spending at an alarming rate and our national debt has increased by $3 trillion since 2005. This is the “compassionate” Republican Party of Colin Powell in action. And Powell is endorsing Barack Obama because he is closer to this vision than John McCain.
Another alarming reason he gave for endorsing Obama is that Powell is concerned about McCain appointing two “conservative” Supreme Court justices. This and other statements in Powell’s endorsement clearly points to his support of abortion rights. For conservatives and the majority of independents who oppose unlimited abortion rights and support traditional marriage, this should be a reminder of the extreme left-wing positions on these issues which Obama supports. And it is a strong case for them to support John McCain.
Here’s hoping that the Powell vision of governance does not continue under an Obama/Pelosi/Reid administration.
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