Today former Secretary of State and Republican Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. It was a stunning blow to the McCain campaign, and a repudiation of the failed politics and ideology of a Republican Party that has fundamentally lost its way. But, ultimately, Powell's endorsement of Obama was not the big news story of the day.
As Jason Linkins writes on the
Huffington Post, "As it turns out, the most important thing endorsed by Colin Powell today was an America that's worth leading and worth fighting for, an America that encapsulates the idea of what some might call a "more perfect union."
One of the most powerful moments of this 7 minute clip came when Powell discussed the inherent prejudice that has been spread by falsely accusing Obama of being a Muslim. Firstly, he is not, but secondly, what if he was?
As Powell says on Meet The Press: "Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.
And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."