So, today, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama on NBC's Meet The Press. Now, the fact of the matter is that 16 days before the election, Obama is looking more and more likely to win - and so, another high-profile political figure endorsing Obama at this point isn't really that noteworthy, in my opinion. However, something that Powell said during the interview made me pause, especially in light of recent events. He said,
"We have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."
On the face of it, this is about as banal and obvious a statement as anyone can make - because, yeah, polarization is bad, etc etc etc. And of course, the politics of division is hardly a new phenomenon - but this campaign, and the last few weeks in particular, have been truly galling in that regard.
I was shocked when I heard that
Sarah Palin made remarks about how she considered the small towns to be the "real America." Really? That means, those of us in -God forbid- cities and suburbs are not "real Americans?"
I was equally disturbed when
McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer suggested that the southern, more rural parts of Virginia were the "Real Virginia." Her quote in full was: "Democrats have just come in from the District of Columbia and moved into Northern Virginia, and that's really what you see there. But the rest of the state, real Virginia, if you will, I think will be very responsive to Senator McCain's message." So, does that mean that Democrats aren't real Virginians?
Does that mean that if I don't vote McCain, I'm not a "Real American"?
It appalls me to see the McCain campaign pitting Americans against each other by implying that the patriotism and the intrinsic decency of an American citizen is determined solely by how likely he or she is going to vote for John McCain. This, folks, is everything that's wrong about the politics of division, distilled quite nicely by the McCain campaign into the purest essence of bitter, cynical gamesmanship. If this divisive, simple-minded and wrong-headed way of leadership moves from the domestic political arena into the world stage, as may happen in a McCain administration, we may see a continuation of the cowboy foreign policy that has been the hallmark of the Bush administration - and thus, a continued erosion of America's standing in the world, and in global stability such as we've seen over the last 6 years or so.
Let's put this another way. The early years of Bush's presidency showed his flair for ill-advised political gimmickry - remember the "Axis of Evil"? I see the same patterns in McCain's campaign - aside from the questioning about the patriotism of people supporting Obama,
remember how McCain suspended his campaign to deal with the economic crisis, only to reactivate it a couple of days later? There's the McCain campaign trying out new aspersions on Obama every week, implying that he's a terrorist sympathizer and a socialist, among other things. And now, of course, the McCain campaign has sunk to new lows of triviality by making Joe the Plumber the figurehead of their campaign.
Folks, the challenges facing America now are enormous - the dire economic crisis aside, we are facing a resurgent, newly-belligerent Russia, low faith in American policy worldwide... all of these compounded with already existing problems. Bin Laden still hasn't been found, we still have an expensive war in Iraq that has accomplished little in the war against terrorism (and certainly nothing in the way of WMDs.. remember that?), and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict still rages on. And what's John McCain's main talking point, in the face of all of this?
A ****ING PLUMBER.
John McCain has demonstrated frivolity and a penchant for gimmickry in the face of a deepening crisis. He has shown to me that he is a dividing force rather than a uniting one - a leader who is willing to play on fear and suspicion rather than bring disparate groups of America together.
In short, McCain is not ready to lead Americans in the current crisis.
Now, I made my decision who to vote for long before Obama and McCain were confirmed as the presidential candidates for their respective parties. I was, and still am, sick of Bush's idiotic way of handling both international and domestic policies, and I was ready for a change, no matter who the Democratic nominee was. But I was hoping it would be Obama all along, ever since he first rose to prominence in 2004. McCain has often targeted Obama's rhetorical abilities and intelligence, accusing him of pretty words and being an elitist intellectual. But, folks... are we really so screwed up, here in America, that being an intelligent and charismatic leader is seen as a bad thing?. After the sheer ineptness of Bush's simple-minded policies, and in the face of the massive problems America has today, Obama's combination of cool-headed intellect and charisma on both the domestic and international stage is EXACTLY what we need. For God's sake, if there's anyone who's going to lead me, it'd better be someone who's more intelligent, more charismatic and more accomplished than me in every way, and not just some chump who makes gestures at "understanding ordinary people" but doesn't understand what it takes to lead a country.
In short, let me put it this way.
I am tired of failed Republican policies that have led us this far, especially in the realm of foreign policy.
I am tired of people implying over and over again that somehow, intellect and charisma is a bad thing.
And to paraphase Joe Biden, when he responded to Palin's irresponsible words about a "real America", I am tired, tired,
TIRED of the politics of divisiveness that Bush and now McCain have practiced, and I don't want to see it enshrined in our nation's highest office.
I became a citizen of the United States in 2005. I have been waiting 3 years for my chance to vote. Barack Obama is exactly the kind of leader we need today. And therefore, my first presidential vote ever will go to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
I thought I closed this thread with my powers 
