Powell endorses Obama

Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president on Meet the Press this morning gives Obama the buttressing he needs around the issue of his weak experience on foreign policy and lack of military cachet, especially vital to him in these waning, gut-checking days of the campaign. Even Joe Biden couldn’t deliver what Powell can and does. That’s good news for Sen. Obama.

Even more impressive, Republican Colin Powell condemned the outright lies and racist utterances promoted by McCain supporters, which his friend Republican Sen. John McCain himself has only passively disavowed.

Gen. Powell was direct in assessing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s lack of qualifications to be president on day one, and he was pointed in questioning John McCain’s judgment in selecting Palin as a running mate.

His forthright critique of Sen. McCain’s faltering campaign does much to restore the good standing of former Secretary of State Colin Powell among many who are still stung with disappointment from his team player performance as a cabinet member in President George Bush’s administration.

Powell’s endorsement of Obama has been speculated on, if not anticipated, since the protracted ending to the Democratic primary last April and May and June. By breaking his silence about his support for Obama, Powell quietly restored the faith and respect I had for him as a reasoned and deliberate thinker, a fair and reliable judge of any issue threatening our national defense and our reputation around the world. Some of that faith I had in Powell was undermined by his soldier’s loyalty to Bush and his attempt to justify his pre-emptive attack on Iraq, based on unverified accounts of presence of weapons of mass destruction.

Now that he has acted independently to express his preference for Democrat Sen. Obama for president and, particularly, because he has rightly denounced and rejected the unchecked racist pronouncements by McCain supporters, Gen. Colin Powell re-emerges as an appealing figure who many Americans once had the audacity to hope would seek the presidency and bring the country together across racial and party lines. It is worth noting at this already historic moment that there are two men of African heritage on the national political scene who have enormous popular appeal among the masses to become president of the United States. Powell missed his opportunity to be our nation’s once and future king, but his well reasoned argument for supporting Obama puts him in an influential position to be a kingmaker.