He was comfortable being in leadership roles, including as chairman of the joint chiefs in charge of millions of our troops. Powell also came to personify a certain section of the moderate Republican old guard increasingly horrified by the direction of the party.
But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president?
He described Trump as a liar who presented a fundamental danger to the US. He thought the risk of the president of the United States using nuclear weapons was greater under Trump than any time in his career. It was that global security risk, plus the threat to democracy, that alienated him from the Republican party. The deadly insurrection by a pro-Trump mob at the US Capitol on 6 January was the final straw: Powell declared that he no longer considered himself a Republican.
The party that he had grown up with, which espoused the American dream and promoted him to senior roles in government, no longer existed. The party moved away from the blue-collar Reagan Democrats, which is probably closer to where Colin Powell was, and it became much more of a corporate party, a party that would win elections by stoking racial resentment.
The sea of diverse faces in attendance at Obama's inauguration ceremony speaks to the reverence that America still enjoys in the world, said the son of Jamaican immigrants and father of three. If Obama can turn the economy around and rectify situations in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, he will begin repairing the nation's image, "because there's still a solid, residual level of affection and respect for the United States of America.
Obama is off to a good start, he said, and is doing the right thing by reaching across the aisle for help. It was gracious of Obama to hold a dinner in Sen. John McCain's honor after a testy campaign and gracious of McCain to accept, and Powell said he hopes that spirit will permeate Obama's presidency. Powell conceded, though, that bipartisanship won't always be the answer to Obama's problems and said the 44th president will need to rely on the wisdom of those who forged the country more than two centuries ago.
That's the way the founding fathers intended for us to move forward," he said. Argue it out. Fight it out, just like they did in that summer of when they were writing the Constitution -- and then ultimately both sides make compromises in order to achieve consensus, and then you move the country forward. Share this on:. E-mail to a friend. Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg del. On Oct. The House voted in favor of the contempt charge on Oct. Alma Edly, North Brunswick. Our journalism needs your support.
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