If you genuinely believe that the former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Advisor would decide to base his endorsement of a candidate on the color of his skin then you are one, a blatant racist, and two, so disillusioned about the ability of our leaders to make any sort of informed decision that you should, quite frankly, find a better country to live your life in. Another option however would be to settle down, give up your conspiracy theories, and realize that intelligent men, although they will occasionally/often make decisions that we disagree with based on different values, have more sense than to believe that a man will make a good leader because his skin has more melanin. Colin Powell has always been a rather moderate Republican. He is pro-choice, pro gun control, and pro affirmative action. He has also, like many others, become disillusioned with McCain. His endorsement came as a surprise, but not that much of a surprise.
Honestly, get over yourself. Just because someone made a decision that isn't the same one you made doesn't mean their motives were somehow less honorable.
And for the record, I'm not all that nuts about Obama. I just think degrading this decision for the above reason is petty and bigoted.
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"By contrast, the only Catholic ever elected president, John F. Kennedy, won nearly 80 percent of the Catholic vote."
www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070624/2catholics.htm
Really, it is not racist at all. It is very much human nature that we identify ourselves with those sharing similar traits. Nationalism is one more example.
To simply brand it "racism" is oversimplifying or ignoring the psychology.
I'm not saying that people don't do this. Of course Obama will get the vast majority of the black vote as Hilary would have of the woman vote. Because the average American voter does not take into account all sides of a candidate, nor does he usually take the time to evaluate everything a candidate has ever said or voted on.
What I'm saying is that it to assume that Colin Powell, a HIGHLY intelligent man who has been chosen by presidents to hold high-responsibility jobs that have affected the whole world, would make a decision because he isn't white like the other candidate is disrespectful and yes, racist.
I'm not oversimplifying anything. To say that they're "homeboys" and therefore are going to be one another's biggest fans is oversimplifying.
And for the record, last year Powell donated the maximum that was allowed to McCain's campaign. So does this mean that he woke up one morning and remembered that he was black? Or that he changed his mind based on the way the Republican presidential campaign has been acting?
Wait, are people already saying this or is all this based on speculation?
I don't think Hillary would have gotten the majority of the woman vote. Most of the women I knew were huge fans of Obama--if being a woman were all it took then we'd all be reacting the way the McCain campaign had hoped for and jumping on the Palin wagon.
And frankly, I don't really think that supporting a candidate because of something big like race or gender or religion in common--all other factors being equal--is all that wrong. At the end of the day, people are biased. It's only a problem if it's the only deciding factor.
Just my two cents.
People are saying this. It was David's first reaction, it was the reaction of people that I talked to in La and here.
Hillary was getting a higher woman vote than she would have had she been a man, was my point. And there were A LOT of women supporters of Hillary. I was one of them. But our perceptions are rather skewed because we go to college and the youth vote is overwhelmingly pro-Obama.
It's not wrong if all other factors ARE equal. But they're not. The ideologies are very different and so is the way the campaigns have been conducting themselves. I very highly doubt that Obama's race factored into Powell's decision, especially since he used to be a McCain supporter. It's much MORE likely that he, like many others in America as evidenced by McCain's slipping poll numbers, become disillusioned. People are biased, and DO base their decision solely on factors like race or religion. I'm just trying to say that Colin Powell, a highly intelligent man who has been trusted with great responsibility in this country would know better than to base his decision on something like that.
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