The Caucasian Card

General Colin Powell told Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press that he would be voting for Barack Obama on November 4th. Powell said that he felt Obama was a transformational figure that he would bring a fresh set of ideas to Washington and that he was reaching out to a far more diverse crowd in an inclusive way. He also commented that he felt the GOP was getting narrower and narrower and that McCain's negative campaigning was a polarizing issue. Not one time did he say he was voting for Obama because he was African-American, yet almost immediately after he made his feelings known publicly, conservatives and right wing pundits began saying that he was endorsing Obama because they are both African-American.

Rush Limbaugh said "This was all about Powell and race, nothing about the nation and its welfare." He also said he was going to check and see which inexperienced white liberal candidates he endorsed in the past, as if that would prove it is all about race.

Colin Powell articulated a lot of the same things that I have been saying in this blog over the last month or so, but apparently, just because he is African-American his is a vote cast for race. Limbaugh's statement is a discredit to every person who will vote for Obama because, in essence, he is saying that we are only voting for him based on his race. If you are African-American, you will vote for him because he is African-American and not white. If you are not African-American, you will vote for him because the first 43 presidents have all been white and you feel bad. If that's not the case, then his criticism of Powell holds no merit.

I am not voting for a man based on anything other than his character and his position on the issues. Barack Obama has shown tremendous capability and character throughout this campaign, while his opponent has been a desperate and divisive politician, relying on stereotypical falsehoods in an attempt to get elected.

I resent the fact that race is even an issue in this campaign. Only one person can be responsible for that though, and it isn't the African-American. Barack Obama cannot hide the fact that he is not white, but John McCain can say that it isn't relevant. Unfortunately, he hasn't and never will.