apropos of anything

When I read last week that Colin Powell was on the verge of endorsing a candidate for the presidency, I have to admit, I thought, pfft. Who cares. It’s so late in the game, and if he picks McCain, everybody’s going to say he just picked the Republican, and if he picks Obama, everybody’s going to say he just picked the black guy.

Well. That’ll teach me to underestimate the General.

I always had a lot of respect for him, even during the Iraq WMD debacle because it must be tough to have to sell something because your boss tells you to and not because you actually believe it. I still don’t think he believed it, but I also think Colin Powell is not a man to sell out anybody, much less his former boss and the current President of the United States. He’d rather take the hit himself.

Maybe I’m being too soft on him because on Sunday he said this: “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America.” Maybe. But I liked and respected Colin Powell on Saturday too; his statements on Sunday just solidified it for me. Now I like and respect him more for being honest and intelligent and straightforward and brave enough to say the things that need to be said.

(…which, he was even more to the point in the press conference after the show — see the YouTube below)

I’m still worried about the possibility of a McCain/Palin victory (not counting out a sneaky, underhanded last-minute surprise, or the impact of the DVDs, or the relentless robo-calling) but somehow, Colin Powell has managed to give me some of my optimism back. He took a stand. He made it clear he doesn’t think “Muslim” and “American” or “Muslim” and “good person” are at all mutually exclusive. It’s what I wanted Sarah Palin and John McCain to do. I guess this is why I think more highly of Powell than I do of them.

But then… I watch The Daily Show. I don’t live in a small town. I prefer the First Amendment to the Second. By the McCain/Palin standards, I am not a “real American”, so I suppose what I think doesn’t really matter after all.