Source: CaribWorldNews.com
It had been rumored for weeks but on Sunday, top Jamaican-American Republican and the US` first black Secretary of State, Colin Luther Powell, handed his endorsement to Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
The endorsement on NBC`s `Meet The Press,` came 16 days before the November 4th general election and was welcomed by Obama even as some critics rushed to dismiss the move as `tribal.`
Conservative commentator, Pat Buchannan, called it a traitorous move on the part of Powell, who rose to prominence in the Republican Party, and he said from where he sits, the endorsement came because Obama is black, as is Powell.
The same sentiments were repeated by controversial talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, who said Powell’s decision to get behind Obama appeared to be very much tied to Obama’s status as the first African-American with a chance to become president.
`Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race,` Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. `OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.`
Ironically, Powell, the son of Jamaica immigrants, had insisted to `Meet The Press` host, Tom Brokaw, that if his decision was based on race, he would have made it public months ago.
`If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10 months ago,` said Powell, who left the Bush cabinet in 2005.
But he added, `I can’t deny that it will be a historic event for an African-American to become president. And should that happen, all Americans should be proud – not just African-Americans, but all Americans – that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen. It will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.`
Powell also said it ` would be very unfortunate` if a lot of Americans say they will vote for Senator Obama but they won’t pull the lever because of his race.
And he insisted he is supporting Obama because, `I think we need a transformational figure. I need–think we need a president who is a generational change.`
The retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Advisor said he made up his mind after monitoring the responses and political campaigning moves by both sides. And he said he was especially disappointed by the approaches taken by the McCain campaign `on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about.`
`This Bill Ayers situation that’s been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign,` said Powell, calling it `despicable` and `demagoguery.`
`But Mr. McCain says that he’s a washed-out terrorist,` he added. `Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate.`
The former Harlem resident and City College alumnus, also said he feels the approaches by the McCain campaign, which have encouraged many to believe Obama is a terrorist and a Muslim are troubling. And he said the Republican party `has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift.`
`I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, `Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.` Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, `He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.` This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
`
Powell, who in 2000 lauded the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney team at the Republican National Convention also added, `I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration.`
The retired Army general said he also was not impressed by McCain`s grasp of the economic problems facing America or his choice of running mate.
Instead, he said of Obama: `I have watched him over the last two years as he has educated himself, as he has become very familiar with these issues. He speaks authoritatively. He speaks with great insight into the challenges we’re facing of a military and political and economic nature. And he is surrounding himself, I’m confident, with people who’ll be able to give him the expertise that he, at the moment, does not have.
`And so I have watched an individual who has intellectual vigor and who dives deeply into issues and approaches issues with a very, very steady hand. And so I’m confident that he will be ready to take on these challenges on January 21st.`
