All Hail Colin Powell

I've become quite the political junkie lately. I listen to talk radio (both conservative and liberal), I watch cable (although I can only stand a few minutes of Fox) and I like to read opinion columns.

Of all the things that I have seen and heard so far, however, nothing has impressed me more than Colin Powell's appearance on Meet the Press recently (check out msnbc.com for the full video).

McCain's recent statements about Obama, "Who is the real Barack Obama," and Palin's remarks that some towns are more Pro-American are just plain evil nonsense. More recently, McCain has toned things down (a little bit), telling a woman who asked whether Obama was an Arab, "no, he is a decent man, a family man that I happen to have fundamental differences with."

I still had a problem with McCain's effort to somewhat redeem himself and Powell hit the nail on the head in his Meet the Press interview on why I feel the way I do. He said, among other things, that Obama is running a more inclusive campaign and that's what this country needs right now. Amen! But more specifically Powell also said that the right answer to the question posed to McCain should be, "No he is not an Arab, but if he was, what's wrong with that? They are Americans just like you and me..." I'm paraphasing a little. But you get the idea. Powell then went on to tell the story of an Arab-American who died for our country fighting in the armed services after 9/11. Wow. Now that's truth telling General and that's the kind of change that this country needs.