Herban Sprawl

Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican of the same stripe as the Illinois moderates I remember, has endorsed Barack Obama. He picked out the key attribute that President Clinton spoke of here in the Star City a week ago. When the economic crisis came to a head, John McCain flitted from idea to idea, with nary a clue as to the probable outcomes of any of them. Meanwhile, Barack Obama approached the problem by hunkering down with a field of experts in order to understand it and hammer out a possible plan. Gen. Powell likes that in a man.

He remains a Republican, but he strays from the right leaning attributes that would tamper with abortion and so forth. He is also a man who was betrayed by that party’s leader and Commander in Chief when he was sent off to the United Nations with a pack of lies and instructed to sell the U.N. that pack of lies. For a man of his integrity, it had to have been a terrible shock to learn the truth. Who among us couldn’t feel for him?

And so as the campaign continues, especially in hotly contested in battleground states like ours, the great soldier and statesman has spoken his piece. It is time for a new generation to take over. He has chosen his words carefully, but he has made it clear that Sarah Palin is a problem. Many old-line Republicans, who don’t really give a rip about the far right’s issues, agree with him. For the people who support the troops, he remains a figure of admiration, and it is he who has told them it is time to think about things in a different way – that change can be good. Will they listen to the old soldier?