Colin Powell, Republican Secretary of State under Bush, Army General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  war hero, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedon, has endorsed Barack Obama for President. It is almost humorous to see the Republican pundits trying to spin Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama today.

Their conclusion: Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama because Barack is black. The intelligent and accomplished Republican has decided that the percentage of melanin in a candidate’s skin is the reason to vote for or against a Presidential contender.

The corollary of that conclusion is that the people who endorse John McCain do so because he is white. I’m afraid that even in these last stages of the campaign, where racism is appearing more frequently in speeches and rallies, most Americans are not voting for one candidate or the other solely because of race.

Ideology remains the number one determinant of voters selections, although Republicans can no longer recognize in McCain the “small government, fiscally conservative” Republican values of traditional Republicans. Because McCain has abandoned his roots, and adopted the policies and politics of the Newt Gingrich/Bill Kristol branch of the Republican Party, true Republicans do not see McCain as a viable choice.

That is why conservative newspapers and conservative pundits are endorsing Barack Obama. As much as they would detest having a Democrat in the White House, they would prefer that to the heretical brand of Republicanism that John McCain represents. They know that John McCain,  would take the George W. Bush damaged Republican brand, and destroy the Republican Party forever.

Here are Colin Powell’s comments as presented in the Huffington Post:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will break with his party and vote for Sen. Barack Obama. “He has both style and substance. I think he is a transformational figure,” Powell said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance,” Powell said. “He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.”

Powell noted that McCain has been a good friend for 25 years, but expressed disappointment in the “over the top” negative tone of the GOP campaign, as well as in McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the vice presidential nominee.

“Now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president,” Powell said. “And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.”

He also harshly criticized some of McCain’s campaign tactics, such as the robocall campaign linking Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

“Mr. McCain says that he’s a washed up terrorist, but then why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have the robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow Mr. Obama is tainted. What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate. Now, I understand what politics is all about, I know how you can go after one another and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for.”

Powell also spoke passionately against the insinuations by some Republicans that Obama is a Muslim.

“Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian,” he said. “But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.’ This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”

Colin Powell Endorses Obama.