Will Colin Powell’s Obama endorsement be the last straw?

“Obama’s a Muslim who consorts with terrorists. He’ll raise your taxes.”

We’ve all heard rhetoric of that sort, and attacks suggesting Obama will turn the IRS into, “a giant welfare agency,” during the current campaign. On Meet the Press this morning (19 Oct 2008) General Colin Powell (Ret.) cited that sort of old-school attack among the reasons that a life-long Republican who served both the Bush presidencies has decided to vote for Senator Barack Obama in the upcoming presidential election.

Powell was clear in his admiration and respect for Senator McCain, and stated unambiguously that, “We are still the leader of the world that wants to be free. We are still the inspiration…” With his own attention turning to Education as a priority, Powell asserted that the candidates had faced a “Final Exam” in dealing with the financial crisis that the sub-prime mortgage lending mismanagement has created in the banking industry.

The General spoke repeatedly both of Obama’s ability to inspire and of his “style and substance,” his, “intellectual rigor,” as he dives deeply into issues. While he expressed a lack of confidence in McCain’s running mate, and made a back-handed dismissal of her remarks about small towns being the real America by noting that, “All villages have values. All towns have values…” his real issue seems to be that the Republican party’s advice to the McCain campaign has been a narrowing of their focus, the use of certain tactics such as robo-calls connecting Ayers to Obama (which he labeled demagoguery,) and implications that highly placed members of the party were willing to use “Muslim” as a tool to divide and conquer voters, particularly contrasted with Obama’s inclusive efforts and his “great insights” into the challenges we face.

Will Powell’s public announcement be the tipping point in the decisions made by some of the as-yet-undecided voters?  Will he lead a shift of centrist Republicans who find their party no longer epitomizes their values to vote for Obama and re-consider their political affiliation(s)?  Time and pollsters will tell.

How will it play in the heartland?

Surely in places like Minnesota’s 3rd CD where a former Marine Corps Captain who served in Iraq, Ashwin Madia, is running as a Democrat it will lend credence to the thinking that not all who support our troops align with the current values of the Republican party.  (Of course, Rep. Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, running for re-election elsewhere in that battleground state, is driving people away from the party with recent extremist statements widely reported in the national press. The result is nearly unprecedented levels of donation to Elwyn “El” Tinklenberg’s campaign.) In the lesser observed 2nd MN CD race another Iraq vet, Sargent Steve Sarvi, is running as a Democratic challenger, too.  Judging by the state of the contests in Minnesota, Powell’s public stand isn’t so much taking the lead as it is a reflection of the reality that even within the armed forces there’s a sense that the country needs a new direction.

Yet Powell’s expressed distaste for the old-school, divisive approach of those controlling the Republican party echoes what seems to be a significant rejection of those tactics by voters throughout the country.  Poll numbers even caused incumbent Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) to withdraw his negative TV ads against his challenger, Democrat Al Franken (though it should be noted he seems to have left them running against the third party candidate, oddly enough.) Had McCain’s earlier promises to run an honest, respectful campaign guided the actions of his staff, had he exercised more of his own style in determining policies and the choice of a running mate, perhaps his weakness on the economy wouldn’t have so utterly undermined his standing in the minds of the voters. It might have even kept Bachmann from self-destructing.

The Powell Doctrine

Powell is unconvinced that there’s a Bradley effect lingering to influence the numbers on election day.  He pointed out that many who will vote against Obama based on race have found other more politically acceptable ways to express their preference already. He also spoke to his concern about Supreme Court nominations, and asserted that if he had, in fact, been a voice against the invasion of Iraq inside the Bush administration it would not have changed the President’s decision.

General Colin Powell, the man who has defined U.S. military strategic doctrine, who stands by his actions urging the invasion of Iraq based on the belief intelligence showed there were weapons of mass destruction, summarized his endorsement – his decision to vote for Barack Obama based on the merits described above despite his obvious affection and admiration for John McCain – by saying, “I strongly believe at this point… we need a transformational figure.” I agree.

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