Did General Colin Powell Endorse Sen. Barack Obama Because He’s A Brotha? Uh, Nope!

Popular sentiment among many of our conservative friends is that black people are supporting Sen. Barack Obama because he is black. In recent days, people have accused General Colin Powell of supporting Sen. Obama because both men are black. This is, of course, ignorant. Many of you may be aware that Gen. Powell endorsed George W. Bush in his 2000 race for the presidency. What some of you may not know is that one of Bush’s opponents in the primary was Alan Keyes, a black conservative. Now, if Gen. Powell is only supporting Sen. Obama because he is black, then why did not Gen. Powell come out in strong support of Keyes, who is both black and Republican? Why did he support the white guy (Bush) over the black guy (Keyes) if it is just about race? If Gen. Powell’s support of Sen. Obama in this year’s race is just about race then why did he not just come out and support the black candidate from the very beginning? Gen. Powell is an intelligent and thoughtful man who wanted to make an informed decision about his endorsement after weighing all the attributes of the two candidates and carefully analyzing the vice presidential picks as well as the policies. Gen. Powell had the courage to go against the party line and support the person he felt was best qualified to be president of the United States of America with the running mate he felt was best qualified to be vice president of the U.S. (Sen. Joe Biden). I commend Gen. Powell for standing up and doing what he thought was right … even against the mainstream thought of his party.