The Right Demotes the General

Today Colin Powell, former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, came out in favor of Barack Obama for president. (Here's what Reuters had to say.)

This didn't really come as a surprise to anyone; partly because all the news services have been anticipating Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama, but also because Fox News has been making every effort over the last couple of days to make Powell appear more "black" than he has appeared before. I suppose that this is intended to minimize the impact of Powell's endorsement of Obama.

In one report on Fox's web site, I found this interesting quote regarding Powell: "At the same time, he is a black man and Obama would be the nation's first black president." Why would Fox feel the need to make that seemingly irrelevant point?

Another story from several days ago carries this headline: "Hip-Hop-Dancing Colin Powell Fuels Speculation He'll Endorse Obama". Huh? Powell doing a "black" dance means that he's going to make a political endorsement? For what, Dancemaster General?

That story also contained this paragraph: "His address at the 'Africa Rising' celebration inside London's Royal Albert Hall fueled speculation that an endorsement of Barack Obama is imminent." I'd like to say that I can't find a single thing anywhere that would support this conclusion, but a lot of other sources seem to have come to it themselves. As much as I'd like to, I can't just blame Fox.

Why is it necessary to find an excuse for Powell's support of Obama? More importantly, how can we take seriously any attempt to make Powell appear "blacker" when for his entire cerreer he's been the very epotomy of a man who "just happens to be black."

I think perhaps it's because Powell was perfectly acceptable to the Right; GWB's first Secretary of State, Vietnam vet, four star general, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ran the Gulf War for GB1, and decorated like a Christmas tree. Will this exceptional pedigree be enough to quell McCainistas who continue to attack Obama on the patriotism/military experience front? Probably not...but it certainly makes such arguments seem even more pathetic.

(Now, this next bit is going to sound a tad racist, but it's hard to talk about this campaign without race coming into it somewhere. I wish that weren't the case. I hope that it won't be, someday. Soon.)

For years Powell was held by the Right as an example of the diversity of their side; his name was held high as they effectively screamed "See? We're not racist!" But now all the efforts to make Powell seem like "one of us" have backfired, now that he's declared for Obama and made himself effectively "one of them."

(And by "one of them" they would mean something other than what I would mean; I would mean one of us, Obama supporters. This is me trying not to sound like a tacitly racist white liberal.)

In light of this, it's understantable that the Right would feel the necessity of minimizing Powell, but I find the tools being used to be distasteful.

One thing that occurs to me is that the Colin Powell endorsement makes hash out of many of McCain's best anti-Obama arguments. And looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I think that Colin Powell would have been a better selection for VP than Sarah Palin; he could have dissarmed Obama's best anti-McCain arguments in the same way. Hell, I'm not sure he wouldn't have been a better choice for Obama than Joe Biden. And I like Joe Biden,

I do note that while Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama, he isn't planning on campaigning for him. Because of that, this will probably all die down in a couple of days. There will be no more news on this front...and no news is no news.

The Blues Viking

The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.

Colin Powell on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell