It’s all about race, stupid…

As most everyone knows, the former Secretary of the State, Colin Powell, has endorsed Barack Obama for president. This is a pretty significant event for a number of reasons. Powell is a well-known retired Army General who played a key role in both the first and current Iraq war. He is known for preferring diplomacy to outright war, earning him the title of “The Reluctant Warrior.” He is well respected by members of both political parties, and was even rumored to be a possible opponent to Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election. To say that Powell is an influential figure is an understatement, at best.

On October 19, Powell officially endorsed Obama. He explained his reasoning which seems to boil down to a few items:

• Obama is reaching out to everyone, not a targeted group
• He thinks Obama is a “Transformational Figure”
• He is troubled by the way McCain’s campaign is trying to insinuate that Obama is Muslim or a terrorist, instead of talking about the issues

He said a few things that really resonated with me, marking him, at least in my book, as a true patriot. Specifically he said the following about the insinuation that Obama is a Muslim :

“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.”

That’s an incredible statement. Seriously, who cares if he’s Muslim, Christian, or Atheist. At the end of the day, do you feel he can lead the country, and do you agree with the agenda he has set forth. If you do, then his race, religion, or whatever is secondary. I’m not sure who said it, but I heard a quote on the news today. It went something like this. Noone is asking you to like Obama. Noone is asking you to be his friend. We’re asking you to look at what he wants to do for the country and vote based on that. If you believe in what he believes in, then you should vote for him.

Others want to continue muddying the water. Let’s take a well-known political mouthpiece, Rush Limbaugh. Rush had this to say:

“Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race,” Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail. “OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

What an asinine thing to say. Of course, he defends his statements:

“So what if it’s race?” Limbaugh said on his radio show. “Why is it so hard to admit that it’s race…What’s so problematic about admitting it?”

The problem is, I’m not so sure it is about race. Sure, Powell is black and so is Obama. But, umm… I’m white and so is Limbaugh. I wouldn’t vote for Limbaugh just because he’s white, would you? Oh, right.. we’re the majority… Yeah, so I guess that doesn’t hold water. Regardless, I think it’s stupid to immediately assume that the endorsement is because of skin color. We’re talking about a well-respected Republican breaking ranks and endorsing a Democrat. This doesn’t happen every day, you know.

Oh, and as for Powell? Well, he had already mentioned the race thing anyway:

“I can’t deny that it will be a historic event for an African-American to become president.”

That’s a far cry from claiming his endorsement is race-based, though. But who cares if it is race? I don’t believe anyone is hiding the fact that Obama isn’t exactly white. But, jumping up and down and screaming about his race isn’t going to help anything. In fact, I think the way he’s been handling everything is incredible. Instead of making this about race, and playing on the race card constantly, he has ignored that completely and made his campaign about the issues. In the end, it’s the issues that count. And, as can be seen by the steady self-destruction of the McCain campaign, people want to hear about the issues.

Seriously, I don’t care about Mr Ayers and his ties to domestic violence in the 60’s and 70’s. Although, for the record, I completely agree with his 2001 statements. The situation was different back then, and to regret his acts would be to disavow what he was trying to accomplish.

I don’t care if Obama was Muslim, or even if he still is. And I’d probably understand if he was hiding that fact, given the current anti-Muslim climate in America. Though, of course, that wouldn’t help his campaign much. But so what. This is government we’re talking about, not a church.

So let’s try and pull this country together and make decisions like grownups, not like petty little children who have nothing better to do than pick on people.