IT is difficult to know whether the endorsement of Barack Obama from Colin Powell will make much difference to American voters. After just less than four years since his departure from the political center stage, the former US secretary of state is very much seen as a figure from the past. A weak figure at that. He was much criticized when secretary of state, especially by Democrats, for not standing up for his more liberal take on events and against the rightward drift of the Republicans. Naturally, however, the Democrats are now delighted to have his support. For them it is proof of their claims that Obama is the man who can unite America — black and white, rich and poor, young and old, Republican and Democrat. For their part, the Republicans, certainly the more right wing among them who rarely disguised their dislike of Powell and his relatively open and more thoughtful approach to issues, are likely to regard the endorsement as an unforgivable act of betrayal. It is to his credit that Sen. McCain is not one of their number. His response that he still respects Powell despite what is a stab in the back is an indication that he too does not fit into the suspicious, narrow, right-wing mindset that presently dominates the Republican Party. Like Powell, he too is a Republican maverick and Powell’s disenchantment with the party raises the intriguing question of whether he too would support the Republican campaign if he were not the candidate.
It is never easy for politicians to change sides. Usually, when individuals fall out of sorts with their party, they do so quietly. It takes a great deal of disillusionment for them to go public. Clearly that has happened in Powell’s case — disillusionment in particular with the smears and mudslinging by the Republicans. Even so, it has taken him some time to change horses. For two months he denied rumors that he would endorse Obama. In the end, it seems to have been Obama’s steady competence on the financial crisis compared to McCain’s that made him go public with the belief that Obama has it in him to be not merely a successful president but an exceptional one.
If Obama’s lead in the polls is correct, many Americans, including enough former Republican voters to swing the contest, had already come to that conclusion. Whether they agree with another of Powell’s comments on Obama’s candidacy — a far more remarkable one — is unknown. It is Powell’s statement that even if Obama were a Muslim, as some in the Republican camp have suggested in an attempt to smear him, it should not matter. His contention that the “really right answer (to the smears about Obama being a Muslim) is ‘What if he is?’” and then his question-and-answer, “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is ‘No’; that’s not America” is a blast of fresh air through American politics. Moreover, if it is accepted by the majority of Americans who are going to vote Democrat in two weeks’ time (and there is no reason to believe it is not) then it is proof of a seismic shift in the American political psyche — so seismic that it will take some getting used to. Certainly, with an Obama presidency, it is going to be very difficult for all those in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America who have used the appalling and destructive policies of the Bush administration as a mask for their own racist hostility to anything American. How would they cope with an Obama presidency?
