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Is this the knockout blow?

By 45 Comments

On Meet the Press this morning, Colin Powell said:

I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

The endorsement isn’t much of a surprise. And, it probably won’t have much of an effect, save to give Obama the next few news cycles, which McCain can’t afford to lose.

But, Powell’s seven-minute introduction to those seven words is a thoughtful, dispassionate, well-reasoned summary of the campaign and of the choice that America has. And it’s just a devastating — and irrebuttable* — takedown of McCain. You must watch it. (No embed link, yet. Thanks, sabutai.)

*I write “irrebuttable” knowing full well that McCain and his surrogates will certainly give it the college try. We can expect a few days of fun watching Tucker Bounds and Nancy Pfotenhauer tie themselves in knots trying to explain why nobody should care what Colin Powell says. (Washed up old patriot?) In some ways, Powell has put them in a no-win position. Any attack on Powell will just confirm his judgment of their campaign.

UPDATE (by David): Here is Powell outside the NBC studios immediately after his TV appearance.  Well worth watching.

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    • Does the word hypocrisy mean anything?

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      p>personally I love Powell and would folow him most anywhere. If he wants to follow Obama, that’s his business—–That’s one place I won’t go.

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      p>Throwing the Israeli’s to the wolves is pretty lousy as well, but that what Wright and Farrakhan want—-he—this is politics right?

    • No “hypocrisy” here, MRCD.

      Let’s just remember: Colin Powell is one of the major reasons we went to war in Iraq. In his 2003 United Nations speech, he perpetrated one of the biggest frauds in the history of international diplomacy – a deliberate and calculated fraud that, in terms of its blood-and-guts ramifications, dwarfs major scandals like Watergate. Sure, there were certainly other Bush officials who helped get us into war. But to deny that Colin Powell was a major factor in sending us into a war based on lies is to quite literally deny that the sky is blue.

      •  I watched Powell’s testimony to the UN. I was amazed by the scrupulous attention to detail. If that was true, we needed to stop that madman. However we’re still looking for the WMDs. I think Powell gave John Kerry lying lessons. I wish Kerry would go back home to Pennsylvania. He lives there m,ore than here.

    • Powell endorsed Obama because they’re both black.  That’s what you’re saying, I take it.

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      p>Really a disgusting sentiment, and as racist as anything I’ve seen on this site in the four years it’s been in operation.  I will, however, leave it up so that everyone can see it.  Sunlight is a fine disinfectant.

      • David,
          Good, let some sunshine in.  A lot of people whom I have talked with this morning happen to agree with billxi, and they are not racists.  Reverse racism is probably not the reason that Powell is endorsing Obama, but the percentage of minorities that is proclaiming his candidacy certainly gives reason to pose the question.  David, are you a slave to political correctness?  By the way, I was an undecided, but I will be voting for Obama, so please don’t lay the racist tag on me.  Let the sunshine all the way in.

          • Myself. I am not sorry for posing the tough statements. They need to be said. BTW, Mr. Kerry better hire some more staffers to stand out for him. Jeff Beatty kicked the snot out of his nose-in the-air at the NECN debate tonight. Don’t be surprised if Kerry wimps out next Monday. Not all of us can afford to be democrats.

          • What would the rant be then. At least be intellectually honest. The rant would be that a huge proportion of whites.hispanis/whomever were racists. But on the other hand 98% of blacks are out for “their guy.” Hey—I don’t hold that against them, in Boston the irish vote Irish, blacks for blacks, Italians for Italians, but folks don’t run around screaming that they are rascists or xenophobes or anti ethnic  blah, blah, blah.

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            p>You get the point. Labelling someone a racist because they make a comment is BS

      • Townhall’s Stephen Ohlemacher:

        At the same time, Powell is a black man and Obama would be the nation’s first black president. Powell said he was cognizant of the racial aspect of his endorsement, but said that was not the dominant factor in his decision. If it was, he said, he would have made the endorsement months ago.

        Someone must have asked that question. The comments, of course, are full of billixisms:

        It is pretty clear..
        ..that either Colin Powell is a closet socialist, he is a black racist (in that he will vote for his race over policies), or he has turned into an idiot. Or a combination of any.

        Disappointing; but in these times, not surprising.

    • …is not capable of free, independent thought and the only reason this four-star general and former Secretary of State could possible endorse a Democrat is because of skin color. Forget his seven-minute explanation of his position, just boil it down to a simple phrase that simple minds can grasp without putting the extra effort of honesty and contemplation. Oh, OK.

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      p>Translation: I don’t like what Powell said, so I will petulantly fabricate an arbitrary excuse to explain away circumstances that inconveniently contradict my view of how Republicans and former military leaders should act and think.  

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      p>Let me put this as delicately as I can: falsely accusing Powell of playing the “Bbros before hos”* line is just as bigoted and racist as if Powell actually favored McCain’s politics but was voting for Obama based on skin color. So, even if Powell was secretly voting for Obama just because of shared pigmentation you would have no high ground to rebuke such an action.

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      p>If Powell is supporting Obama because he’s a “brother”, can we assume that all the White people who are voting for and supporting McCain are doing so because he is White? Are you supporting John McCain and Palin beause it is an all-White ticket? Is Lieberman?

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      p>————
      *When you correct other peoples’ spelling in other threads, it’s not good form to make spelling errors of your own. It makes you look sillier than you already do.

  3. I doubt it will change that many minds — it is hard to understand just what it is that will make the difference to undecideds — but Powell is extremely eloquent and incisive here.  His point about what anti-Islamic bigotry in the US does to our standing in the world is a great point from someone who understands this issue.

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    p> – Dan

    • I’m thinking specifically of supporters of Hillary who have not been able to wrap their minds around this young man Obama.  One conversation stands out in my mind: I was talking with an older woman who, in order to assure me that her objections were not based in prejudice, told me she would vote for Colin Powell in a minute but was unsure about Obama.  This endorsement is going to make a big difference to her and her friends.

    • A spreading contagion—-protected by our constitution and we will rue the day.

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      p>The US Constitution states that I am entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “Some muslims” wish to deny me that privilege. The only way to resolve the rub and protect ME is to turn USA into a police state. We no longer have the luxury of being reactive, which our police forces are now, we must be proactive.

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      p>Interesting proposition.  

      • MCRD… that’s Crazy Talk. That’s the kind of crazy talk that leads to points in humanity’s history that I think the bulk of us would rather forget.

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        p>Are “some Muslims” the type that would want to deny you that liberty? I’ve never met any of them in America, but if there are some, they’re no worse than you who would want to deny THEM – and millions of innocent people along with them – their constitutional rights within these borders. People are innocent until proven guilty in this country for a reason – what you’re suggesting is to even skip the accusation, never mind the trial, and deport wholesale the millions of ‘radical’ Muslims, many or most of whom were probably born here.

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        p>Meanwhile, what do you propose we do about all the radical Christians that would seek to deny me my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – by legislating their faith into our law books and devestating the lives of untold millions in the process? Not only are your words hate speech and crazy talk, but they’re also oozing hypocrisy.

  6. as a compliment.

    Senator Obama has demonstrated the kind of calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach to problem-solving that I think we need in this country.

    • … offered by so many pundits as some kind of faint praise:

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      p>

      “I thought Obama was flat, professorial, didn’t rise to the occasion,” said Bennett, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, a law degree from Harvard University, is a former chairman of the esteemed National Endowment for the Humanities, and was – believe it or not – secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan.

      … Professorial must be the insult of the season. Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times even invoked an academic criticism of McCain’s performance after the first debate. “Again and again, sounding almost like a professor talking down to a new student, he talked about having to explain foreign policy to Mr. Obama,” Nagourney and Zeleny wrote.

  8. For the first time, the U.S. Army has designated an active-duty unit stationed at home to serve as a federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

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    p>The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, which has spent 35 of the past 60 months in Iraq, began its new assignment on Oct. 1.

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    p>The unit could be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control, or to deal with the chaos following an earthquake or a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear attack.

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    p>”We’ve been all over the world during this time of conflict, but now our mission is to take care of citizens at home.”

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    p>Well—if I catch one in the back of my squash, I’ll have the consolation that it is coming from the “good guys”, acting on the behest of our new Commander in Chief.

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    p>

    • A well thought out courageous endorsement from a great public servant. While this does not make up for the low point of Powell’s distinguished career, his UN appearance, it does confirm what the public is seeming to think which is that McCains campaign is divisive and corrosive and Obama is truly a transformational figure able to bring together different perspectives and move this country forward. A very important and the most touching part of the interview came when Powell said he knew Obama was not a Muslim, but that it wouldn’t matter if he was since plenty of Muslim Americans have also sacrificed for this country. He was really the first mainstream person to go out and finally say that. Most people just say Obama is not a Muslim, few go out of there way to also assert that if he was it wouldnt matter anyway. Very important endorsement.

  10. Powell is a tragic figure. A lifetime of success based on service and, in the end, also the destruction of his reputation based on service. His critical mistake was to serve George W. Bush for too long. He got used, and his patriotism was taken advantage of, in my opinion.

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    p>In any event, this can only help Obama, but I don’t think it is by any circumstances a knock-out blow. The only knock out blow will be a victory on 4 November.

    • Powell seems to be an embodiment of the tragedy of America under Bush.  Good faith poorly exploited, sadder but wiser for the experience.  Had Powell lost his house, the comparison would be eerie.

      • that, as several other posters here on BMG have pointed out, Colin Powell is one who really helped get us into both Gult Wars and into Iraq, illegally and based on lies.    

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        p>Barack Obama, who stated that he opposed our Iraq war, unfortunately also vowed to continue funding it.  In either case–not good, imho.

        • … is (or at least was) a yes man.  For some reason (probably owing to his media exposure during Gulf War I) he became a yes man that the public had confidence in.  (Few people at that point had heard of anything called “the Powell doctrine”.)  For that reason he became a ‘must get’ guy for Bush in 2000.  The fact that the neocons had no intention of actually letting him do anything wasn’t the point.  He allowed himself to be used as a result of his loyalty reflex.  It could be argued that, because he wasn’t on the same team in the neocons’ minds, him becoming SOS greatly exacerbated the gutting of the State Department’s role in administration foreign policy.  The next SOS will have to survey the damage.

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          p>Recommended reading on Powell:  Rise of the Vulcans and The One Percent Doctrine.

          • This:

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            p>

            “He allowed himself to be used as a result of his loyalty reflex.”

             

            <

            p>points it out, in a nutshell.  Colin Powell was used, abused and then hung out to dry by the Bush Administration.  So was Condi Rice, for that matter.  

            <

            p>Back to the subject of Colin Powell;  there’s no escapting the fact that Powell wes a major player in getting the United States involved and embroiled in Iraq in the first place….both times.

    • Look at today’s follow-up coverage.  

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      p>The story is now “Was this endorsement because of race?”

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      p>And I feel when the news cycle is about the economy, Obama trends highest; when the news cycle is about race in any form or shape, no matter how he handles it, Obama trends lowest.  

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      p>

      • When Joe Lieberman crossed party lines to endorse McCain, nobody said, “Well, it must be because they are both white.”  Frankly, neither Powell nor Obama is identified politically as black in the way that, say, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson are.  In other words, when we think of them we do not automatically think first of their race (or is that just me?).  For that matter the same goes for Deval Patrick; neither Patrick nor Obama was ever “the black candidate and Powell was never thought to have been an affirmative action appointee.  This is all a long way of saying that race isn’t an issue, or at least shouldn’t be.  I see this as one more step toward judging by the content of one’s character than the color of one’s skin.

  11.  
    I was so pleased on Sunday to hear  former Secretary of State Colin Powell indicate that he felt Barack Obama was the best choice for president and he (Powell) would be voting for Barack.

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    p>I worked under General Powell.  He has tremendous military, diplomatic,  and civilian experience.  His endorsement means a great deal to our efforts, but we need to keep up the canvassing and phone banking!

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    p>                              YES WE CAN!

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    p>                           GO OBAMA-BIDEN!

  12. Here is a guy who thinks that the Powell, along with the Adelman, endorsements make him unhappy with the Obama nomination.

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    p>”Its conservatives who should be cheering.” he says.  Andrew Sullivan writes:  “We are.”

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    p>I could care less about Adelman.  But I still have some respect for Colin Powell, and am pleased by the endorsement.

    <

    p>But I’m no progressive.  Does this give y’all heart palpitations?

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