OCTOBER SURPRISE: The Redemption of Colin Powell

"I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama."

General Colin Powell, Meet the Press, October 19, 2008.

In the hinterlands of small town America, on the far reaches of rightwing radio, on the receiving end of robo-calls in battleground states, the whisper campaign was in full swing:

Have you heard? Barack Obama is a Muslim. Obama is an Arab. Obama pals around with terrorists. Obama is a shadow agent bent on destroying the nation.

Along comes General Colin Powell to shatter all the myths and delegate the whisper campaign to the radical fringe where it belongs. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revered hero of the first Gulf War and author of the Powell Doctrine in foreign policy, delivered an October surprise that will force the operatives in the McCain campaign to abandon the politics of smear or include Powell in the indictment.

In a universe where reputation trumps politics and fact trumps fiction, if they choose to challenge the General they will lose.

Among the most respected public figures in America, Powell was the voice of caution in the Bush administration’s march to war in Iraq. Against his better judgment, he presented a case for war before the United Nations Security Council that he knew was fraught with false, unsubstantiated and misleading accusations. Despite his later rationalizations, he tipped his hand when he insisted that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet sit behind him, clearly visible, when he delivered his presentation.

Tenet received the Presidential Medal of Honor before he was asked to fall on his sword when no weapons of mass destruction were found. Always the good soldier, Powell stayed on until after the 2004 election and quietly resigned.

Muted in criticism of his former boss over the last four years, he has chosen an opportune time to stand and be counted.

"Because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities…he has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president…an exceptional president."

In many ways Powell’s rise through the ranks of the military establishment to positions of unprecedented power and influence in government runs parallel to Obama’s rise through the political establishment.

Born in Harlem, the son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell achieved academic distinction before deciding on a military career. Through hard work, dedication and excellence, he rose up the chain of command to become the first four-star General and later the first Secretary of State of African American descent.

The son of a single mom raised by his grandmother, Obama excelled in his academic career, graduating from Columbia University and gaining entrance to Harvard Law School where he became the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer, practiced as a civil rights attorney and for twelve years taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He served three terms as an Illinois State Senator and rose to national prominence with an inspiring address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In November 2004, he became the only African American to take a seat in the exclusive club of the United States Senate.

Even before capturing the Democratic nomination for president, Obama had walked rarified ground and few know better than Colin Powell how remarkable his achievements are.

Colin Powell is not a saint. He remains timid and defensive in his criticism of the truly catastrophic policies of the president he served. Nevertheless, no one in his right mind would accuse Powell of anti-American sentiments. No one would accuse Powell of "paling around with terrorists." And anyone who accuses Powell of placing race or ethnic background above the national interest does so at her own peril.

To the Republican hit machine Colin Powell stands virtually alone as one who cannot be smeared.

To those of us on the left of the political divide, where Powell remains accountable for his part in the train wreck of the Bush foreign policy, the redemption that began with his second term resignation has taken another giant step.

By this endorsement he has served the nation by taking the fear from the politics of smear. There are many who will never relent but their case has been marginalized.

In the hearts and minds of the vast majority of Americans, when you stand with Colin Powell and when Powell stands with you, your patriotism is beyond reproach.

Jazz.