Nigeria: At last, Powell endorses Obama
Posted by africanpress on October 20, 2008
Lagos (Nigeria) – Asked last week at the THISDAY Africa Rising Festival in London to pick between John McCain and Barack Obama in the race for the White House, former US Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, refused to disclose his choice.
“I am close to both of them,” he said. “I have known McCain for 25 years – we fought in the Vietnam War together. We’re both in the Republican Party. I have not known Obama for that long, though. But I have told McCain, I won’t support you simply because I’ve known you for so long. I told Obama, I won’t endorse you simply because you’re black. It would be a negation of my belief that we should all be judged by merit.”
Yesterday, Powell – the first African-American to be appointed Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military and the first African-American to be appointed Secretary of State – finally endorsed Democratic Party’s Barack Obama – the first African-American presidential candidate in the history of US.
Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY, had, in introducing Powell to give a keynote at the event, extolled Powell as paving the way for the emergence of other African-Americans in the world’s only Super Power.
“If not for Gen. Powell, there would not have been a Condolezza Rice, and there would not have been an Obama phenomenon today,” Obaigbena said to an applauding audience.
Powell broke his silence yesterday, saying the Democrat had the “ability to inspire”. “All Americans… not just African-Americans” would be proud of an Obama win, he said.
According to the BBC, Powell’s endorsement carries weight. This is in part because, as a former chairman of the Joint chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state, Powell’s backing says to undecided American voters “I trust this man as the Commander-in-Chief and so you should too”.
In regard to the financial crisis, which Powell called the candidates’ “final exam”, Powell said McCain appeared unsteady in dealing with it, while Obama had excelled in handling the situation.
“Obama displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge,” he told CNN. “He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.”
He has spoken to both McCain and Obama regularly and watched carefully and he has concluded, he said, that Obama has the style and substance to lead America in the future.
Obama was better suited to handle America’s economic problems, the former secretary of state said. “In the case of Mr McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as how to deal with the economic problems that we’re having,” he said. “Almost every day there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me. You got the sense that he didn’t have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had.”
Powell had also been “concerned at the selection of Governor [Sarah] Palin” for running mate. “She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired,” he said. “At the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she is ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice-president.”
Last Tuesday at the THISDAY Africa Rising Music and Fashion Festival held at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom, Powell spoke on his vision for the African contient.
He asked “the big men of Africa” to rise up to the challenge of lifting the continent out of its current state of abject poverty and underdevelopment.
“As Secretary of State, I pushed for support for the continent. Aid quadrupled during my tenure. We supported the fight against HIV/AIDS with over $15 billion,” he said. “However, big Africans must rise and take the responsibility for the development of the continent. They must end the wars. They must fight corruption.”
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API/Source.This Day (Nigeria)- October 20, 2008.
