COLIN POWELL ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA AND PUTS THE FINAL NAIL IN MCCAIN’S CAMPAIGN COFFIN
POWELL’S REASONS FOR LEAVING HIS LIFE LONG REPUBLICAN POLITICAL HOME AND MOVING TO THE OBAMA SIDE OF THE STREET CLEARLY ENCAPSULATES THE CASE FOR OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT
Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel are two of a handful of progressive Republicans I would support. I have always thought that Powell would have made a good president, if not a great one. He is universally respected, here and abroad, for the superb job he did of planning the first Iraq war and putting together a military plan that would successfully drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait while safeguarding the lives of American military personnel.
Unlike “W” and Rumsfeld, Powell did not go into that war on the cheap. His generals and their five hundred thousands troops did their job superbly and speedily with the impressive support of the United Nations and a coalition of thirty-four (34) other nations.
Powell lost some of the glitter that has encased his name and reputation since “Dessert Storm,” because of his participation in the Iraqi war as the Secretary of State under George W. Bush. Many believe that Colin Powell and Colin Powell alone could have prevented that disastrous war and did not.
Nevertheless, he remains one of the most highly respected military minds and is prized not only as a man, but as a magnificent human being.
His endorsement of Barack Obama on Sunday, October 19, 2008 was the cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae; actually it probably is more lethal than a sundae for John McCain, it was more like an IED on Pennsylvania Avenue very near the White House.
McCain has worked so hard to screw up his campaign. He endorsed all of George Bush dreadful policies right out of the box. He continues to insist that the surge worked, failing to account for the fact that Moqtada al Sadr called off his dogs the moment Bush announced the surge.
He failed to consider the fact that when al Sadr ordered his 60-100,000 man Mahdi army to retreat to their homes and their hideouts, the death toll was going to drop dramatically whether we sent 30,000 or 40,000 extra troops into the fray or not.
He failed to take into account that the U. S. government is paying approximately 100,000 insurgents to fight for us and that when the money stops pouring in, those 100,000 will resume their murderous ways.
And finally, McCain forgot that the purpose of the surge was to buy time for the Iraqi government to settle the grave differences that exist between the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds. Those issues remain unresolved.
McCain insists that he would never leave Iraq until America wins the war. Let us be realistic, this is an “unwinnable” fight. The moment U. S. troops pull out, the bloodshed continues where it left off prior to the surge; the Mahdi army comes out of hiding, the insurgents we were paying will resume their fight against the Shiites and the country resorts back to the chaos that characterized its pre-surge years.
In my opinion, Iraq will always be a dysfunctional democracy. When a country has a strong religious group (Shiites) comprising 60% of the population and are deadly enemies of the two other religious factions together consisting of only 40% of the remainder of the population, the Shiites will inevitably win any election held in Iraq.
In Iraq, the Shiites will control the government, the oil, the jobs and the military—ad infinitum nausea.
Unfortunately, John McCain seems unable to even recognize the odds against George Bush’s dream of a democratic island in the sea of the autocratic rulers in the Middle East.
While the U. S. government has been negotiating leases for 58 military bases that will permanently house American military personnel, the factions of the Iraqi government are in violent opposition to this proposal. But it was knowledge of these negotiations that caused Senator John McCain to state that as far as he was concerned we could remain in Iraq for one hundred years as long as we win.
In the recently released movie “W”, near the end one cabinet member inquires about our exit strategy, the character playing Vice President, Dick Cheney replied, “There is no exit strategy.”
Powell has gotten severe criticism for not fighting harder against a war he knew was wrong and could not be won. But remembering that he is a military man who as Secretary of State, was serving at the pleasure of his Commander-in-Chief, has the unfortunate mind set of “following orders,” as is the habit of John McCain; he could do no other. They were trained this way and they remain subordinated to the influence of the military requisite to obey orders. Nonetheless, Colin Powell remains one of the most highly regarded men in the country, in fact, in the world.
His endorsement of Barack Obama was a key seal of approval. He praised Obama’s brilliant mind, his power of persuasion which he declared to be a very important element in the broad arena of international politics, his masterful understanding of both the domestic and foreign policy issues of the day and specifically his calm and steady demeanor in this time of economic crisis.
He criticized John McCain’s choice for Vice President, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, as a very competent and energized lady, but one that is not prepared to become the president of the United States in a time when the president is disabled.
He was also critical of McCain’s use of both exceptionally negative advertising and negative campaigning that was “below the belt” in many instances and detrimental to a healthy political process in this country. He specifically pointed to the persistent use of the name William Ayers who, in Powell’s words, had only an informal relationship with Obama having served on several boards of charitable organizations together.
Powell also mentioned the employment of robo-calling with ads that are untrue and disparaging in tone and content.
Rather than bringing people together, the McCain campaign is divisive and polarizing which does not portend well for unifying the country after the election.
Powell stated unequivocally, that Obama is prepared to be president, to handle both foreign and domestic issues and has the wherewithal to become a great president.
Hopefully, this will bring an end to the McCain’s use of dangerously negative campaigning and will force him to address the key issues of the day.
I believe that the Powell endorsement could very well be the clincher for Barack Obama and his absolutely brilliant campaign strategy which has kept its word to run a campaign that dealt with the issues and refused to give in to the tendency to smear his opponent’s reputation and character.
The voters of this nation should listen carefully to the case that Powell delivered on behalf of the Obama candidacy. Those who doubt his experience to lead this nation remember the words an unknown author, “There is nothing like experience, unless, of course, it is pure talent.”
11:44:57 AM 
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