Colin Powell

Colin Powell has made a career out of being in the military; he’s a retired General. A National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. He knows that wars are won and lost, based not primarily on the hearts or minds of the combatants, who’s right, or who’s wrong, or on whose side God is on, but mostly on technology. The side with the better weapons, the better supplies, better transportation, communication, organization, enthusiasm, wins. I think he wants wins for this country, and I think he sees the best likelihood for those wins in Barrack Obama.

Obama’s use of the Internet is a true sea change. It is the new technology that is helping him win the election, yes, but it is so much more than that.

What is the Internet to you? To me, it’s my TV. My recipe box. A self-updating Rolodex. It’s a telephone, (I’ll go days and days without making a call, nearly never does a day go by, when I’m not online.) It’s my personal research library. My dictionary. A classroom. A community center, where the community is the whole wide world and nobody minds what I’m wearing. If I’m wearing. It’s my weather bug, my first aid consultant, my travel agent, my shopping mall, flea market. But of course, that’s just me, I’m sure you have your own uses.

It’s Obama’s use of this medium that has so Powell impressed. He sees the corner being turned, it’s a specialty among leaders, seeing around the corners. Powell and Obama seem to see that in each other. Leadership.

I wasn’t surprised by Powell endorsement of Obama. I’m not surprised that he’s taking heat for it, but Powell probably isn’t about that surprised either.

I do wonder if Colin Powell is surprised to learn that Jamaica is related to Kenya, or is even a part of Africa. Hello Rush Limbaugh. He thinks this endorsement is all about race, and although he’s totally wrong, he’s also right, in a twisted sort of way. Colin Powell has been respected (among white folks) for decades. Most didn’t know the difference between Jamaica and Africa, so the assumption holds. But it isn’t race loyalty. Powell, who has been long trusted universally, by his endorsement, is helping to ease the transition. Most of these (white) people have never cheated anybody in business, worn a white hood, or even used the dreaded N-word, but they’re still a bit nervous. They think, or like to think, if what has happened to others had happened to them, they’d jump at the chance to get some of their own back. Sure, it seems racial, but it’s really not.

Colin Powell is doing this for American Unity. He’s helping to put people at ease, just as Barrack Obama made that same statement in choosing Joe Biden as a running mate. The message being, you don’t have to be impeccable, to be on the right side of things.

This is going to work out. Remember to vote. Remember that you are alone in that voting booth, whether or not your hand shakes as you vote, is nobody’s business, but your own. Be gentle with yourself, you'll know what to do.