Colin Powell on Barack Obama
I've been thinking of writing a piece about why I support Barack Obama. Today on "Meet the Press", Colin Powell explained why even a fellow Republican 25-year friend of John McCain would prefer Barack Obama as President, covering many of the points I would have covered. I'm going to summarize them here since reading my synopsis might be faster and more convenient than watching a 27 minute video.
The Republican party "has moved more to the right than I would like to see it". Governor Palin has indicated an even further rightward shift.
Over the last six or seven weeks both candidates have "taken a final exam with respect to the financial crisis and coming out of the conventions. With respect to Mr. McCain he seemed unsure on how to deal with the problems we were facing. Almost every day there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me. That concerned me; I got the sense that he didn't have a grasp of the economic problems that we had."
The selection of Governor Palin. Now that we've had a chance to watch her for 7 weeks, I don't think that she's ready to be President of the United States which is the job of the Vice President. That raised some question in my mind over the judgement that McCain made. Obama has picked a Vice President capable of being president on day one.
During the last seven weeks Obama has displayed "a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge, and an approach to looking at problems like this". Obama "shows intellectual vigor". He has a definitive way of doing business that will serve us well.
The Republican party's approach has become narrower and narrower while Mr. Obama's side has become more inclusive and broader, reaching into the needs and desires of our people. He crosses ethnic, generational, and racial lines. All villages and towns have values; not just small towns.
Senator McCain's recent approaches have been disappointing; he's picking issues that are not central to the problems of the American people. Bill Ayers has become a central point of the campaign even though McCain calls him a 'washed-up terrorist', so why do we keep talking about him? Why are nationwide robo-calls trying to suggest that a very, very limited relationship somehow taints Obama? They're trying to connect him with terrorist sentiments which is inappropriate, it goes too far, and it makes the McCain campaign appear narrow, and it's troubling.
Powell would "have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court".
What members of the party are permitted to say on McCain's behalf are troubling. Obama is not a Muslim, he is a Christian and has always been a Christian. The really right answer is "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a muslim in this country? No; that's not America. Is there something wrong with a six or seven year old muslim kid today thinking that he might become President?" Senior members of the Republican Party have dropped suggestions that he's a Muslim and might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing things in America. We have to stop polarizing ourselves in this way, and I am troubled that within the party we have these kind of expressions.
Two individuals - either one could be a good president. But Barack Obama is the individual that we need now to serve the needs of the nation for the next period of time. Barack Obama has the ability to inspire, he's run an inclusive campaign that reaches out across america, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities, because of his style and substance, he has met the standard of being an exceptional president. He is a transformational figure and represents a new generation of politics.
Obama knows that there is a difference between winning a campaign and sitting in the oval office. He has been educating himself and has become very familiar with the issues. He speaks authoritatively and with great insight about military, political, and economic challenges. He is surrounding himself with people who will be able to give him the expertise that he does not have. He has intellectual vigor, dives deeply into issues, and approaches issues with a very steady hand.
It should be a point of pride for every American, not just african-americans, to have reached the point where we can have an african-american president. It will not just electrify our country - it will electrify the world.
Powell has disagreed with Obama about timelines for withdrawal but that disagreement is now largely moot. The US is negotiating an agreement right now for major combat operations to cease and for American forces to begin withdrawing by next June and be gone by 2011. There is already a timeline between Iraqis and the American government which will continue to happen regardless of who is president.
I strongly believe that at this point in America's history we need a president who will not just execute the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach the policies that we have been following in the last few years. Not out of a lack of respect or admiration for Senator McCain, I think we need a president who is a generational change.
The Republican party "has moved more to the right than I would like to see it". Governor Palin has indicated an even further rightward shift.
Over the last six or seven weeks both candidates have "taken a final exam with respect to the financial crisis and coming out of the conventions. With respect to Mr. McCain he seemed unsure on how to deal with the problems we were facing. Almost every day there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me. That concerned me; I got the sense that he didn't have a grasp of the economic problems that we had."
The selection of Governor Palin. Now that we've had a chance to watch her for 7 weeks, I don't think that she's ready to be President of the United States which is the job of the Vice President. That raised some question in my mind over the judgement that McCain made. Obama has picked a Vice President capable of being president on day one.
During the last seven weeks Obama has displayed "a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge, and an approach to looking at problems like this". Obama "shows intellectual vigor". He has a definitive way of doing business that will serve us well.
The Republican party's approach has become narrower and narrower while Mr. Obama's side has become more inclusive and broader, reaching into the needs and desires of our people. He crosses ethnic, generational, and racial lines. All villages and towns have values; not just small towns.
Senator McCain's recent approaches have been disappointing; he's picking issues that are not central to the problems of the American people. Bill Ayers has become a central point of the campaign even though McCain calls him a 'washed-up terrorist', so why do we keep talking about him? Why are nationwide robo-calls trying to suggest that a very, very limited relationship somehow taints Obama? They're trying to connect him with terrorist sentiments which is inappropriate, it goes too far, and it makes the McCain campaign appear narrow, and it's troubling.
Powell would "have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court".
What members of the party are permitted to say on McCain's behalf are troubling. Obama is not a Muslim, he is a Christian and has always been a Christian. The really right answer is "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a muslim in this country? No; that's not America. Is there something wrong with a six or seven year old muslim kid today thinking that he might become President?" Senior members of the Republican Party have dropped suggestions that he's a Muslim and might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing things in America. We have to stop polarizing ourselves in this way, and I am troubled that within the party we have these kind of expressions.
Two individuals - either one could be a good president. But Barack Obama is the individual that we need now to serve the needs of the nation for the next period of time. Barack Obama has the ability to inspire, he's run an inclusive campaign that reaches out across america, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities, because of his style and substance, he has met the standard of being an exceptional president. He is a transformational figure and represents a new generation of politics.
Obama knows that there is a difference between winning a campaign and sitting in the oval office. He has been educating himself and has become very familiar with the issues. He speaks authoritatively and with great insight about military, political, and economic challenges. He is surrounding himself with people who will be able to give him the expertise that he does not have. He has intellectual vigor, dives deeply into issues, and approaches issues with a very steady hand.
It should be a point of pride for every American, not just african-americans, to have reached the point where we can have an african-american president. It will not just electrify our country - it will electrify the world.
Powell has disagreed with Obama about timelines for withdrawal but that disagreement is now largely moot. The US is negotiating an agreement right now for major combat operations to cease and for American forces to begin withdrawing by next June and be gone by 2011. There is already a timeline between Iraqis and the American government which will continue to happen regardless of who is president.
I strongly believe that at this point in America's history we need a president who will not just execute the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda with a new face and a maverick approach the policies that we have been following in the last few years. Not out of a lack of respect or admiration for Senator McCain, I think we need a president who is a generational change.