Opinion: Colin Powell's Endorsement of Barack Obama

I think that it is presumptuous for anyone to explain Powell's rationale for endorsing Barack Obama simply as either racial bias, or the settling a political score with the Bush Administration.

Taking great care to stress his admiration for John McCain, Powell trained the focus of his criticism of McCain's candidacy chiefly on the divisive tactics employed by his campaign, and his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

As Powell stated yesterday, if the counter-argument is that he chose to endorse Obama solely because of race, then he had no reason to wait for as long as he did before announcing his decision.

Furthermore, I trust Powell when he said that he initially believed Iraq was a threat.

That is not to suggest he advocated for going to war with the same zeal as Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.

By all accounts, Powell strongly favored diplomacy as a means to address the perceived dangers that Iraq posed.

Colin Powell has a long and distinguished career of public service. As grave an error as it proved to be, he should neither be branded as deceitful nor disloyal to the American people for lending his support to President Bush as Secretary of State.

Robin Cook he is not, but certainly he is deserving of the respect amongst the public that he commands.

See It Now

I just watched Representative Michele Bachmann (R - Minnesota) on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, and she expressed fear of a Barack Obama presidency because she believes he is anti-American.

Additionally, she considers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - California) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nevada) to be extreme leftists.

Obviously, her conclusion is based on his past-associations with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, and former Trinity United Church of Christ pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Now, before you argue the merits of Obama's explanation for his connections to these figures, pay attention to the label that Senator Bachmann slapped on him: anti-American.

Now, focus on the tags that she placed on Pelosi and Reid: extreme-leftists.

The charges that Bachmann leveled against Obama, Pelosi, and Reid echo the vicious smears made against numerous American citizens during the McCarthy era.

Then, to be labeled as anti-American meant that you were a communist.

What does it mean to be anti-American, today, in the age of terrorism?

This is the propaganda that John McCain and his supporters are disseminating throughout the country in their ongoing effort to demonize Barack Obama.

In so many words, they have characterized his core principals as an amalgam of radicalism, communism, and pacifism.

So, as our nation's roiling economy - complete with soaring deficits, enormous debt, and high unemployment rates - continues to founder, John McCain and his surrogates respond to the crisis by instilling xenophobic fears into America's collective psyche.

Remember the words of Edward R. Murrow when he spoke out against the actions of Joseph McCarthy:

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."

A Hussein By Any Other Name

Barack Hussein Obama! Barack Hussein Obama!

There is a patently false smear, long discredited, that has been circulating across the Internet; claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim.

Ask yourselves these questions: If Barack Obama was a Muslim-American, would I vote against him because he worships Allah as opposed to Jesus Christ? If so, then what does that make me?

Think about that.

Shut Up and Blog

Hip-hip hooray! My days writing long-winded missives are over!

The need for me to actually blog on this blog has been long overdue.

I'm pleased to announce that, as of today, real blogging will begin.

So, I hope you enjoy my pithy comments.

Back in the U.S.S.R.

To the citizens of the free-world, a word of caution...beware.

The policies of Russia's government are eerily reminiscent of those once employed by its former incarnation, the Soviet Union.

Its belligerent posture and meddlesome ways have only escalated the existing tensions between the separatist Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the Georgian central government.

Clearly, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili overplayed his hand by failing to heed the U.S.' warning to not take any action against South Ossetia that Russia would almost certainly perceive as hostile; thus compelling them to take up arms in defense of the breakaway province (the majority of whose citizens own Russian passports).

Impressionable Minds

Until this evening, I was becoming increasingly concerned about Barack Obama's chances of defeating John McCain in this year's presidential election.

My enthusiasm upon learning of the news about Obama's brief nine-point gain over McCain in the national polls, following his overseas trip, was first tempered by the news of McCain's ability to shorten the gap between he and Obama in polls that were conducted in several key battleground states; before it was muted altogether, after I read today's Gallup Poll.

However, after watching the latest TV ad that the McCain Campaign unveiled today, my spirits were buoyed once again.

Is this the best that John McCain and his strategists can do?

Really?

For McCain to argue against Obama's candidacy by pairing him with pseudo-celebrities Paris Hilton and Britney Spears is - and this is an understatement - laughable.

Apparently, he feels that Barack Obama is now too popular to be elected president.

Even Obama's diet is too contempo-casual for the average American to stomach, according to a recent McCain campaign memo.

John McCain would have us believe that Barack Obama's ambition - a characteristic that all politicians, especially those running for president; including McCain, himself - supersedes his dedication to public service as an elected official.

John McCain would be well served if someone on his campaign staff took the opportunity to remind him that in addition to the 25 years he has served in public office, he has several television and film appearances of a non-political nature on his resume: two separate appearances on NBC's Saturday Night Live (once as host), a cameo in the comedy film Wedding Crashers, and a cameo on Fox TV drama series 24.

Seriously though...this latest attack ad is far less troubling than the one that preceded it; one that has since been debunked.

Yet, I wonder how much credence the American people would dare to give to these arguments against Barack Obama - as well as McCain (a la the 2000 Republican presidential primary) - that are based not on matters of policy, but wedge issues, and perceived character flaws.

Furthermore, I cannot dismiss the notion that a considerable number of Americans are disinclined to vote for Obama for no other reason than the fact that he is as black as the night in which things go bump.

Otherwise, why would The New Yorker feel compelled to publish an edition of their magazine bearing an illustration on its cover that satirizes every known stereotype of Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, that has been perpetuated since the day he announced his intention to run for president; especially after considering the potential backlash they would suffer as a result?

"It Ain't Over Till It's Over"

Hello everybody. I'm back!

Which is not to say that I ever left, but after enduring my most rigorous and challenging semester of college to date, I was physically and emotionally spent; in dire need of some R&R.

So, I took a few weeks to recuperate before climbing back onto my saddle, and now...I feel...rudderless.

I'm the type of individual who craves order, but only when it's been established and imposed on me by someone else, not when I am the architect.

As stressful as it was, I felt more at ease during the spring than I do right now, because during the semester I was required to follow a regimen.

It's much harder for me to follow any regimen that I set for myself, because there are no consequences that can befall on me for failing to adhere to it.

I've tried to advance certain initiatives of mine for the summer, but as they say, "a plan is only as good as its implementation."

I am not, however, without a guide.

For that I am grateful.

All things being equal, I fully expect to be hard at work again this fall.

As for this blog...it is no longer a function of my schoolwork.

Therefore, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for my next post, as there'll be plenty to talk about this summer.

In fact, there already is.

Stay-tuned.