Colin Powell and Racism

Conservatives have a chance to win something very important to them in this election, even if they are defeated at the polls. As is often the case, it requires the right 'spin.'

If Barack Obama wins, it is a powerful argument to the idea that African-Americans need special treatment to create a level playing field. After all, if a black man can take the White House, there is no place a black man can't go. That argument will be made the next time an affirmative action case comes before the Supreme Court, and it will most likely carry the day.

The only problem? Conservatives are blowing the 'spin.' They are whining that Obama *is* getting special treatment, and even that the only reason he's winning is because of that treatment. In other words, they're claiming Obama only stands a chance because of a propensity of Americans for affirmative action.

On Sunday Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president. It didn't take long for Patrick Buchanan, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage to jump in and claim that the only reason Powell endorsed Obama was because they share a common skin color. I suspect what they'd like listeners to hear, without actually saying it, is that it's appropriate for white folks to vote for a white guy for the same reason, but I'll skip over that. I'm guessing. I don't know.

Racism comes in many forms, and I think it's legitimate to say that if Powell is endorsing Obama because of his skin color, that's a form of racism. It's not the most dangerous sort, however. I have to admit that when I was a fan of the Utah Jazz in the 90s, I was a lot more of a fan of John Stockton than Karl Malone. Part of that is because Stockton was about my height, and folks that are a lot taller are kind of intimidating. But some of it, too, was that Stockton shared my skin color. Those two features, neither of which go the character of the two men, made me a John Stockton fan. Racism? Sure, of a sort. People will always root for people who are "like them," whether it's skin color or a common profession or whatever. That might be what's going on with Colin Powell's endorsement.

If Stockton vs. Malone, however, were a more serious matter than being more of a fan of one player on the same team than another, I would take it a bit more seriously than that. If they were both running for President, for instance. If at the end of the day I chose to vote for Stockton, it wouldn't be about his skin color. I'd vote for Barack Obama over either.

So yes, it is racism, and of a deeper sort, to assume that the reason Colin Powell would endorse Barack Obama is because Barack Obama is black. There is nothing in Powell's record to indicate that race is a primary motivator in anything else he does. When people root for someone because they are the same skin color, it's a lot less dangerous than when people assume they can know just what's going on in the person's mind, because "those people" are like that.

I'd love to say that Limbaugh, et al, are just the lunatic fringe of the Republican party, but frankly, I think they're just over half of it. I give John McCain (but not Sarah Palin) credit for being part of the other half of the party.

John McCain made a comment that Powell's endorsement "doesn't come of surprise." That's reasonable; there were hints of it in the media, and Powell had said some positive things about Obama before. He didn't say "I expected it because they were both black," and I don't think he meant that, either. Nor do I think he was trying to deliver a coded message to his supporters. Extrapolating from his fellow Republicans' comments to assume we know what's going on in McCain's mind would be a mistake, I think.

At any event, it's nice to see another Republican for Obama. I don't know why moderates stay in the Republican party at all, at this point, but if the GOP is ever going to be the loyal opposition our two party democracy needs, again, they'll need people like Powell.