Posts
MR. BROKAW: General Powell, actually you gave a campaign contribution to Senator McCain. You have met twice at least with Barack Obama. Are you prepared to make a public declaration of which of these two candidates that you're prepared to support?
GEN. POWELL: Yes, but let me lead into it this way. I know both of these individuals very well now. I've known John for 25 years as your setup said. And I've gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well over the past two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good president. I have said to Mr. McCain that I admire all he has done. I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that's a choice the party makes. (It is simply factually incorrect that going from Bush/Cheney to McCain/Palin is moving to the right.) And I've said to Mr. Obama, "You have to pass a test of do you have enough experience, and do you bring the judgment to the table that would give us confidence that you would be a good president."
And I've watched him over the past two years, frankly, and I've had this conversation with him. I have especially watched over the last six of seven weeks as both of them have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. (This ignores the fact that Mr. McCain and the Republicans tried to regulate Freddie and Fannie years ago and were stopped by the Democrats.) And I must say that I've gotten a good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. (Well, Mr. McCain was unsure what to tell people who wanted government handouts to fix everything. It took him a while to be able to stomach that, and to his shame, he did. Which is the only reason he still polls in double digits with swing voters.) And that concerned me, sensing that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. (However, Gen. Powell explictly and on stage endorsed Vice President Cheney, who exemplified the right wing that Gen. Powell decries.) She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made. (The debate over Ms. Palin's qualifications to be Vice President vs. Mr. Obama's to be President have been done to death, with each side unconvinced of the other.)
On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him during this seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor.(Note: No specific policies cited.) I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well. I also believe that on the Republican side over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become narrower and narrower. (Perhaps because that is characteristic of the candidate trailing in the polls?) Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values. (How exactly is he doing this? If it's because he's young and black, that's not really something it's possible for Mr. McCain to duplicate.)
And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, 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. But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? (Why does the Obama Campaign bring up the Keating 5, from which Mr. McCain was all but exonerated from?) And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship(This is, to say the least, an opinion. It was double digit contacts that lasted over many years.) that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. (Imagine this: Mr. McCain had the same type of links to someone who bombed abortion clinics. What is the Democratic response?)What they're trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that's inappropriate.
Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. (Again, what basis is there for this? Can anyone explain to me how Ms. Palin is to the right of Mr. Cheney?) 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. (Isn't one of the things Mr. McCain got his "maverick" reputation for by being one of the Republican Senators who voted in the Clinton choices for the supreme court, over objections from the Republican party?)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. (As though the DNC does not use this as one of it's major talking points, and employ people with this exact assignment to go to Union strongholds.) 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.
I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. (Even now Gen. Powell still insists on linking 9/11 and Iraq. Old habits die hard.) Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the (Note: no longer "my" party)party, we have these kinds of expressions. (But no one who supports Mr. Obama supports anything offensive? Mr. McCain is responsible for changing, single handedly, all his supporters views?)
So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.(Note: still no policies cited.) I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.
End of transript.
I still fail to see what policies of Mr. Obama's that Mr. Powell supports over Mr. McCain's. In fact, the issue Mr. Obama based his early campaign on is that the Iraq war was wrong. Mr. Powell was deeply involved in waging that war. Even when it is pointed out that Mr. Obama's position is opposed by Gen. Powell, Gen. Powell's response is that the next president will not affect Iraq policy that much. That's pretty weak justification for the lack of agreement on the defining issue of the early part of Mr. Obama campaign.
Gen. Powell's endorsement boils down to liking Mr. Obama's personality and style more than Mr. McCains, wanting to get back at the Bush administration and the belief Mr. Obama will win. He is entitled to vote on that basis. However, he should be honest about his reasons.
There are legitimate, internally consistant reasons to vote for Mr. Obama. These would include any of the following being your primary issue:
1. Gay Rights
2. Pro-Choice
3. More Gun Control
4. More distributed income
5. Anti-Iraq war
6. Union empowerment
7. Enviroment
8. Anti-Free Trade
9. Universal Health Care
10. Climate Change
The list goes on, but the point is clear. If any of these were your major issue, it would make sense to vote for Mr. Obama. Gen. Powell did not list any of these.
No comments:
Post a Comment