In what sense is Colin Powell a “Republican”? The decision four years ago by Powell, who was only promoted by Republicans and vilified by Democrats, to vote for Barack Obama, an inexperienced leftist, is at least partly understandable. Most people were willing to give the junior senator from Illinois the benefit of the doubt in exchange for hope, change, and the prospect of the end of the nation’s racial divisions.
But what possible rationale can Powell, a military man, have to vote for Mr. Obama this year? Is it the debacle in Libya? The collapse of our relationship with Russia? Or maybe $5 trillion in new debt? The sick economy? The government takeover of health care? The depression-level unemployment rate among African Americans? Or perhaps it is the president’s soaring rhetoric about Big Bird and “Romnesia”?
Powell explains his vote by saying that Romney has been vague about his plans, although Democrats have been busy savaging the details of those plans for months. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign just issued its second-term-agenda pamphlet yesterday.
All I know is, with the choice this clear, and the vote this close, between an accomplished businessman-politician and more of the same from Barack Obama, no real Republican would pull the lever for the president this year. With Republicans like Powell, who needs Democrats?
