He is a military genius, by all accounts, who commanded all United States Forces while serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He also commanded more than even the respect of Americans from small town Alabama, to the Halls of Congress and the Situation Room of The White House.
He was respected for his service, honored for his commitments and principles, and loved for the loyalty which he has shown to the United States of America, the United States Government, the Citizens of the United States, and the core principles and values for which they all stand.
He has served multiple Republican Presidential Administrations and was hailed as an individual who could have himself been the first African-American President anytime he chose to seek the Office.
He gave a speech at the Republican National Convention in 2000 endorsing the candidacies of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
When both George Bush and Dick Cheney had commited to a strategy in Iraq which each knew could never be justified and would never be accepted by the American Public from either of them...what the two most powerful men in the world did know, was that they needed the credibility of General Colin Powell in order to get even their own point across.
He has been a friend, military brother, political colleague and personal confidant of John McCain for nearly three decades.
And, this day...General Colin Powell publicly announced that he will vote for Barack Obama and has Endorsed his Candidacy for President of the United States.
An hour after the endorsement, the McCain Campaign has offered no formal response to the Powell Endorsement of Barack Obama. Privately, I am told by sources within the RNC, that they will essentially ignore the Powell Endorsement unless and until General Powell becomes an active part of the Obama Campaign. Should General Powell allow himself to be utilized in the body of the Obama Campaign, these same sources suggest that McCain will go after his old friend, by publicly tying Powell to the failed Bush Policy in Iraq...and by attempting to privately diminish the impact of the Endorsement by running a whisper campaign claiming that General Powell is supporting Barack Obama because he is black.
This Presidentail Campaign has lasted two full years.
General Colin Powell has had every opportunity to explore each and every aspect of Barack Obama. He has had every opportunity to reconsider the nearly thirty year relationship he has maintained with John McCain.
General Powell has had an opportunity to explore his own personal core values, as well as those which exist today in the formal position statements of both of the major political Parties. He has had an opportunity to consider the way in which the Republican Party has chosen to contract instead of expand, and circle its wagons around a small group of religious zealots and political neocons who truly believe that packing the United States Supreme Court with Justices whose mantra is that of Strict Constructionalism...will sufficiently disguise their true goal of turning a Representative Democracy into the Institutional Theocracy which is abolutely their life purpose.
General Powell has had an opportunity to examine the means by which McCain and Obama have responded, not merely to the formation of various policy statements and positions...but to major domestic and foreign policy crises of the type and kind which will frame their entire prospective Presidencies.
General Powell has had an opportunity to examine the means by which each Candidate would respond to various situations requiring the exercise of Presidential judgment. The first such test, in the eyes of General Powell came when John McCain selected Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential Nominee. General Powell made it more than clear that McCain failed this test, by selecting a person who was clearly not qualified to assume the role of President, which General Powell indicated was the only job of the Vice President.
General Powell has had an opportunity to observe a wide variety of world reknown professionals in various field of relevant endeavor also make their own determinations as to which Candidate was more worthy of their own support.
General Powell sat on the sideline as Warren Buffet joined the Obama Team as an economic advisor...while John McCain looked to a fired, investigated and disgraced Hewlett-Packard CEO whose only claim to fame was receiving millions of dollars of personal bonuses for moving American jobs to India, Pakistan and the Philipines.
General Powell waited to make his own statement of support, while five former Secretaries of the Treasury stood side-by-side with Barack Obama...and John McCain countered only with Phil Gramm...the very architect of the deregulatory catastrophe which has literally brought down the worldwide banking and financial system and resulted in the nationalization of the American banking and mortgage industry.
General Powell waited to offer an Endorsement, while one former Military Commander after another has made their own statement in support of Barack Obama. The response of John McCain to his being spurned by these military leaders, is to continue to suggest no more than that he will WIN in Iraq, has a plan to capture bin Laden, and has always supported the troops. Forget the fact that McCain has offered no concept of what WINNING in Iraq IS...why he has not given his bin Laden Plan to George W. Bush...or how voting against shorter tours of duty and college paymenys for veterans constitutes supporting the troops. The larger point is...a significant majority of EVEN Retired Military Leaders, have chosen to Endorse Barack Obama.
General Powell clearly stated that had his Endorsement been based entirely Barack Obama being an African-American, that he could easily have made that Endorsement 10 months ago.
In truth, while holding his Endorsement until two weeks away from the election, General Powell effectively did everything in his power to reconcile the fact that he is a Republican, with a history of dedicated service, not only to America, but also to the Republican Party...with the fact that he truly believes in his heart that Barack Obama is a truly iconic figure who is the best person for this job, at this time.
General Powell was also undoubtedly conscious of the fact that regardless of his motivation, or how well-reasoned his Official Endorsement might be...that he would in the end be subjected to the same form of chararacter assasaination BY the McCain Campaign, which John McCain so ferevently decried in connection with the media examination of Joe the Pretend Plumber.
Unfortunately for John McCain..it OUGHT to be at least a LITTLE more difficult to discredit a man who at least two Presidents have entrusted our safety to...than a Ohio-based tax cheat who doesnt even have a LICENSE for his butt crack.
For whatever value any American will place on the Formal Endorsement of a Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is offered only two weeks away from the election, General Powell is to be commended.
For BEING the kind of person that this Former Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, who is a republican, who has held the trust and confidence of Republican Presidents, was actively encouraged to seek the Presidency himself AS A REPUBLICAN, and who John McCain would have KILLED to have on his own ticket in place of Sarah Palin...would Endorse OVER the Nominee of his own Party...Barack Obama is to finally be accorded the respect which both his character, and his conduct of this Campaign, should have entitled him to receive a year ago.
How many MORE of the most honored and praiseworthy from among us all, will have to come forward on behalf of Barack Obama, before the rest of us realize that the McCain Campaign has been the least substantive, most vile, and thoroughly unworthy attempt at the Presidency in the history of American Politics?
Imagine a crisis...at 3 AM...ON DAY ONE.
Imagine the sub-basment of the White House...and a conference table lined with John McCain, Sarah Palin, Phil Gramm and Carly Fiorina.
Now...imagine the SAME TABLE...in a CRISIS, at 3AM, ON DAY ONE...
Only this time...the seats are taken up by Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Warren Buffet, General Colin Powell, General Wesley Clark and five former Secretaries of the Treasury.
NOW...you can go and cast your vote. PLEASE...GO...VOTE NOW...before you get yet another Robo Reminder that John McCain has no programs, no policies, no positions, and no vision, for America.