Powell's Endorsement

Juan Cole has a thoughtful post up about Colin Powell's thoughtful endorsement of Obama. Both are unusual in their careful reasoning, expansiveness, and rationality -- qualities too rarely found in our political discourse. The two made me realize that one of hte things about Obama that I am sure he will do is take the long view and try to do the right things for the right reasons. In the heat of battle in a dirty campaign, finally something positive.

Powell then signals his discomfort not only with what the Palin pick says about McCain's lack of judgment but also how it positions the future of the Republican Party. That is, he reads Obama and Palin as harbingers of the future of their respective parties, since they stand for youth in each one.

Palin's Republican Party is "becoming narrower." He does not initially spell out what he means by this charge, but it can be inferred by his later comments and by reverse-engineering what he says about Obama. Palin's Republican Party is rural or rurban, small-town, and ethnically homogeneous (i.e. "white")--also, it might be said, largely Protestant. She does not bring along with her many of the youth, or ethnic America (which is heading for 51% of the population in a couple of decades), or urban populations. Rural conservative white Protestantism may be a backbone of the Republican Party, but it is not a sufficient basis for ruling a dynamic, diverse country such as the U.S.

In contrast, he says, "Mr. Obama . . . has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values. "