Colin Powell: Is He Suddenly Now In Belafonte's Good Graces?

In 2002, the singer Harry Belafonte referred to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice "house niggers" for being too connected to the Bush Administration and its policies. As Black News Weekly reported, Mr. Belafonte appeared on "Larry King" to defend that position (See Full Story).

My intent of mentioning the above incident is to highlight the opinion of the left, albeit very extreme in this particular case, about Colin Powell. He has never been, nor been seen as a supporter of liberal viewpoints. To say, now, that he is endorsing Barack Obama, and that "race" has nothing to do with it is a little hard to fathom (See Full Story).

As a former, premier military leader of this country, I find it difficult to believe that Colin Powell supports Barack Obama's direction for our armed forces (See the video). This, alone, should be a big issue for Colin Powell. Much like Bill Clinton did in the 1990's, Barack Obama will literally stifle advanced weapon systems and severely limit military spending so he can have his planned government "give-away" programs. Additionally, Mr. Obama doesn't believe in any expanded or even continued intelligence activities, such as the recent changes in FISA, and he would put unreasonable privacy rights ahead of this country's protection. Is that what Colin Powell believes would be "good" and "transformational" for America?

Beyond the military, if Colin Powell really believes in all the other liberal policies of Mr. Obama, where was he with his endorsements of John Kerry and Al Gore? Most of what Barack Obama stands for is hardly any different from these previous Democratic candidates. In fact, Mr. Obama just may be further left in his political views than those two guys! As far as I can remember, Mr. Powell backed George W. Bush and Bob Dole in past elections.

So, Mr. Powell... You want us all to believe that your decision to back Obama has nothing to do with race? I don't even think Harry Belafonte would believe that!

Filibustering FISA?

Back in October, it was obvious to his supporters on the "left" that Barack Obama would filibuster "any" FISA (Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act) bill that came before the Senate if it included immunity to for the Telecom companies. On October 23, 2007, this was said on behalf of the Senator and his position:

"Senator Obama has serious concerns about many provisions in this bill, especially the provision on giving retroactive immunity to the telephone companies. He is hopeful that this bill can be improved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But if the bill comes to the Senate floor in its current form, he would support a filibuster of it."

Obviously, Mr. Obama has had a "change" of mind because, yesterday, he voted for the FISA bill; with Telecom company protection and all (See Full Story). His former opponents in the run for the Democratic Nomination, i.e. Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd, stuck to their guns and voted against the bill. But, not Mr. Obama. He's so flexible. He's that left-wing caterpillar who has "now" emerged as the moderate butterfly! (On second thought... I think the analogy of a "wolf in sheep's clothing" is probably more appropriate than the caterpillar/butterfly concept.) Like he says about himself: "He is *change* you can count on!" And, he certainly does what he says!