by Damozel | Since everyone's been saying for days that he was going to, and since it's even been rumored/alleged that Powell might be destined for some sort of role in his administration...it's not a surprise or anything---not even to McCain.(CNN) What was a surprise, at least to me, was his condemnation of McCain's tactics and the Republican party's present bent. He didn't have to go there.
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."(CNN)
Like every other Republican who has endorsed Obama, Obama's demeanor apparently played a big part:
In regard to the financial crisis, which Powell called the candidates' "final exam," Powell said McCain appeared unsteady in dealing with it, while Obama had excelled in handling the situation.
"Obama displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge," Powell said. (CNN)
Powell found the McCain campaign's attempts to link Obama to Ayers, and the overall negative thrust of the McCain campaign, as off-putting as many of the rest of us.
"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. (CNN)g
He also has concerns about the Republican party as a whole. He thinks it's shifted too far to the right. (CNN) Okay, coming from one of Bush's advisers and enablers? That's truly telling.
Reactions from progressives? Mixed, as expected. Here are a few comments to Steve Benen's piece at The Washington Monthly.
"still a war criminal," commented "dee" tersely.
This view is shared by many of my progressive friends, as is this:
halfnhalf says: "After Powell's performance at the U.N., who can believe a word he says?
He was either in on the conspiracy or lacked the judgment necessary to determine the truth. More than 4000 dead and upwards of 30,000 injured Americans attest to Powell's perfidy.
It won't convince me to vote for Obama...or McCain for that matter, that is a matter of good judgment: mine."
I have always been inclined to forgive and move on. Why? I don't know. I've always liked Powell; and again, why? I don't know. A lot of people seem to feel that he's atoned in some way....cf. Oliver Stone's in many respects disappointing film W, which makes Powell out to be a good man who---reluctantly! doubtingly! uneasily!--- bought into a bad idea foisted on him by his old partner-in-war Dick Cheney. I believe that; but why?
I believed it before I saw the film; but why? No answer. I like his face, for one thing. I believe in redemption for another. Will his endorsement of Obama redeem him for my fiercer, less pliable progressive brothers and sisters?
Benen, a progressive's progressive if anyone is, seems pretty psyched about Powell's comments, while acknowledging that "his legacy is blemished" by his role in the Iraq War:
Powell is arguably the nation's most popular and most respected Republican. He has been a friend of McCain's for a quarter of a century, has seen up close what kind of leader McCain would be, and even contributed to McCain's campaign.
And yet, as of this morning, Powell is officially an Obama supporter -- and is officially dejected about what's become of McCain's campaign and the Republican Party.
Some commenters on an earlier post of Benen's greeted the endorsement with temperate joy. One says to Powell-is-a-war-criminal commentator "Dee",
Don't be an ungrateful asshole, asshole.
Powell made a mistake, but Bush lied him into it. Powell is very important, and I for one welcome his gracious statement.
In fact there were a number of sharp rebukes along the same good-man-deceived-by-Bush line of argument. PoEd Liberal said:
In politics, it is important to distinguish the past from the present. Mr. Powell made a mistake in the past. He was lied to by the shitheads in the WH, and they told him things that were wrong. He made a speech at the UN based on that lie, and this speech was important.
But that was then, this is now.
Immature political neophytes keep score from 1900 to now, and if you violate the canon at any time, you are a problem. To more sensible persons, we pay attention to the here and now.
Powell made a mistake. Morons remember the mistake, and that is all they remember. Sensible persons note WHAT HE SAID TODAY, and welcome that comment.
He is not a war criminal. He is an honorable man who made a mistake based on the lies of others.
Brent split the difference:
I am happy that Obama got this endorsement because Powell is still so well regarded but lets not pretend that Powell was some sort of bystander in this mess. He didn't get tricked by our dimwitted President....He dummied up a bunch of "evidence" in support of that war using his own considerable credibility to camouflage the pathetic thinness of that evidence. Yes, the endorsement is nice and there is no good reason to look a gift horse in the mouth. But what Powell did was unconscionable and I, for one, have no interest in pretending that he does not bear at least as much responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in as any of the other assclowns in the administration.
And Dismayed Liberal went straight to the bonus-for-Obama strategic aspects.
This endorsement provides cover for a lot of moderate Republicans and Independents to vote for Obama.
It also has the potential of making the racism of the McCain campaign's strategy even more pronounced, if that's possible, if their surrogates, or their voters, loudly dismiss this endorsement on the basis of Colin Powell being black.
Nothing but good news for Obama here.
Matt Yglesias, predictably, articulates the pragmatic view.
Liberals generally find it hard to forgive Powell’s key role in selling the Iraq War to the public, and with some good reason. Still, he’s one of the most popular figures in public life and though he’s not well-liked by the hard-core rightwing either, he’s definitely identified as a Republican. His endorsement helps ratify the post-Palin trend toward McCain solidifying his base but losing his once-formidable support from moderates.
And he points out one clear bonus.
Plus I bet it’ll inspire someone at the Corner to say something racist. (Yglesias)
Glenn Greenwald, another progressive's progressive, also points out that Powell criticized the really disgraceful anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from the far right, as if being a Muslim were per se a slur.
Powell went on to say that he "feels strongly" about that point, and cited a photo essay he saw regarding U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan which included a photograph of a mother in Arlington National Cemetary with her head on the tombstone of her 20-year-old son, who was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star and was killed in Iraq, and the photograph showed the headstone adorned with the "crescent and star of the Islamic faith," and his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, a Muslim-American (I believe this is the soldier to whom Powell was referring).
There has been much condemnation over the "Obama-is-a-Muslim" line of GOP attack, but almost all of it has been on the ground that the attack is factually false as applied to the Christian Obama, not on the ground that it is a reprehensible and dangerous line of attack even if it were factually true. Powell bears much of the responsibility, and always will, for the horrific U.S. attack on Iraq (one which, just by the way, resulted in the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims), but he deserves credit for using the platform he had this morning to go out of his way to make this vital point when doing so was not necessary (and perhaps not even helpful) in advancing the cause of his endorsement of Obama.
That being Muslim or Arab is a mark against someone's character is now so ingrained in our political culture that it is hardly noticed any longer. When John McCain, at that rally in Minnesota last week, sought to chide his supporter for asserting that Obama is an "Arab," McCain did so by pointing out that, in fact, Obama is a "decent family man" -- as though that proves that he's not "an Arab because "decent family man" is the opposite of "Arab". (Salon; emphasis added)
Greenwald doesn't seem to think that's what McCain meant---and nor do I---but as he underlines, the point that McCain had to defend Obama from being an "Arab" (Muslim) by saying that he is a decent man tells you a lot about the thinking of our fellow citizens.
The Right's ongoing, intense obsession with demonizing Muslims and Arabs is, for that reason, not only repulsive but also quite destructive. The core of the Republican Party has degenerated into the unrestrained id of its worst impulses, and it was good to see Powell specifically cite (and condemn) those elements as a principal reason why he is turning away from the party he has served for so long and supporting the Democratic nominee. (Salon)
Down with Tyranny is similarly disposed to accentuate the positive, while wondering why Powell still insists that he's a Republican.
I'm no fan of Colin Powell but his analysis of the political situation that led him to decide to vote for Obama was spot on...
Powell, when asked, said he's still a Republican. His thoughts on the party-- particularly on Michele Bachmann, who he singled out, and other far right divisive elected officials-- makes one wonder why.
Not to be cynical myself, but Powell's being a Republican is part of the reason his endorsement is so important, right? David Gergen at CNN called it the most important endorsement so far.
And as Benen said:
Part of the significance comes from the importance McCain has given Powell. The man who just endorsed Obama is also the man McCain considered as a possible running mate. Over the summer, unprompted, McCain described Powell as "a man who I admire as much as any man in the world, person in the world."
What's more, today's announcement becomes something of a trump card. As VoteVets.org Chairman and Iraq war vet Jon Soltz noted the other day, "For all the smears being hurled about 'palling around with terrorists' and 'white flag of retreat,' nothing can counter that like a Republican former 4-star coming out and saying 'This guy loves America as much as me.'"
I'd just add that Powell didn't just tacitly offer a vague endorsement, he offered his unapologetic support to Obama, while blasting what's become of his old friend, John McCain. He sounded like a man who barely recognizes what's become of today's GOP.
Progressive blogger BooMan hasn't forgiven Powell and doesn't plan to---his piece is called "World's Most Discredited Man Endorses Obama--- but philosophically acknowledges that this is a good thing for Obama.
Personally, I wouldn't even want Colin Powell's endorsement, but it will help Obama govern to have the support of the broadest possible spectrum of America and elite opinion. So, it's a welcome endorsement.
And conservatives, what do they have to say? Just for grins, let's have a quick look.
Jules Crittenden---who hasn't had to learn yet that progressives can be pragmatists---has a piece called "Albatrosses for Obama." In re: Powell's announcement that he won't be campaigning, Crittenden sourly comments, "Bummer. It would be fun to watch the Code Pink crowd picketing Obama rallies."
At Wizbang, Lorie Byrd goes straight to the race thing.
I wonder if all those lefty bloggers who have referred to Colin Powell as an Uncle Tom for all these years will call him that anymore. Probably not. Count on this endorsement by a Republican In Name Only to receive much more media attention than that of former Democratic Party Vice Presidential nominee Joe Lieberman or numerous high profile Hillary Clinton supporters of John McCain did.
Drudge links this report from September in which Powell said the election of the first African American as President would be "electrifying."
Heck, that didn't take long! And it isn't even "veiled." Like Yglesias, I am looking forward to the reaction from the NRO.
Memeorandum has more on the endorsement.
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