From October 20, 2008, I wrote  …

COLIN POWELL: Why I don't agree with his Obama endorsement.

While I respect Colin Powell’s abilities and accomplishments, I believe that he would have made a better President than both John McCain and Barack Obama. I still have two Colin Powell for President pins in my desk drawer and an autographed copy of his book.

Now, I must question my own judgement relating to Colin Powell …

I was willing to give Colin Powell as pass on his endorsement of Barack Obama in 2008. Primarily because Obama represented Hope and Change and John McCain was a wishy-washy aisle-hopping liberal who did not seem to have the burning conviction to fight for the Presidency. I could respect Colin Powell’s vote, even though I believed he was voting for an historic situation, the first Black elected to the Presidency of the United States. I could also forgive any bitterness that he may have felt towards the Republicans who had sent him to the United Nations with a provably false narrative regarding the weapons of mass destruction and the war in Iraq.

But I am not willing to give him any credit for endorsing Barack Obama again …

First, there is a clear record of corruption, incompetence, disrespect for American exceptionalism, our American way of life and our military. And second, Barack Hussein Obama and his fellow travelers let Americans die in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11 – doing little or nothing for 7 hours when the attack was being monitored by the White House Situation Room in real or near-real time. THIS IS AN INEXCUSABLE DERELICTION OF DUTY. And I was positive that Colin Powell, as one of our nation’s premier military leaders, that you do not sit on your butt and leave your men hanging out to dry. In this case, suffocating in a safe room waiting for help that never came.

Colin Powell is a deep disappointment to me and I will crush those “Colin Powell for President” pins and destroy his autographed book. They no longer have any value for me, knowing that a man I respected is blind to reality and appears to be acting solely a racial basis. Perhaps it is loyalty to Obama – but one would doubt that an honorable military man would sit idly by and watch the Commander-in-Chief blatantly lie to the American people for weeks to cover up his foreign policy failure in Libya.

Here is what Powell said …

Colin Powell Endorses Obama Again

 

RICHMOND, Va. — President Obama today said he was “proud” and “humbled” to learn he has the support of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who announced this morning that he is endorsing Obama for a second term.

“I’m grateful to him for his lifetime of service to his country both as a soldier and as a diplomat,” the president told 15,000 Virginians this afternoon. “And every brave American who wears this uniform of this country should know that as long as I’m your commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. We will be relentless in pursuit of our enemies. Those are promises I’ve kept.”

Powell, who broke with the Republican Party to endorse then-Senator Obama in 2008, offered his continued support for the president today, saying he’s concerned Mitt Romney’s foreign policy is a “moving target.”  “I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012, and I’ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month,” Powell told CBS News.

Powell cited the president’s handling of the economy and foreign policy in explaining his decision. “When he took over the country was in very, very difficult straits, we were in one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression,” Powell said. “We were in real trouble.”

“I saw over the next several years stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it’s starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising. So I think generally we’ve come out of the dive and we’re starting to gain altitude,” Powell explained. “It doesn’t mean we are problem solved, there are lots of problems still out there. The unemployment rate is too high. People are still hurting in housing. But I see that we are starting to rise up.”

Powell, who served as secretary of state under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, praised Obama for ending the war in Iraq and winding down the war in Afghanistan, adding that he “did not get us into any new wars.” The retired four-star general went on to call Obama’s actions to protect the U.S. from terrorist threats “very, very solid.” <Source: Colin Powell Endorses Obama Again - ABC News>

Is Powell blind to the facts?

“The retired four-star general went on to call Obama’s actions to protect the U.S. from terrorist threats ‘very, very solid.’”

Is he talking about the Obama who cannot bring himself to use the word terrorism. Redefining the “war on terror” as “overseas contingency operations” and the Islamic Jihad attack on Fort Hood as “workplace violence.”

Does Powell not know that those dead and wounded soldiers are denied the “Purple Heart” – something that would have advanced their position in getting needed follow-on healthcare in a prioritized Veteran’s Administration Hospital?

Does Powell not know that Obama has disadvantaged every man and woman fighting on foreign soil by implementing “Rules of Engagement” that favors our enemies and disadvantages our military fighting men. Demanding that they not return fire in response to deadly fire coming from civilian buildings – although the enemy does not separate their military operations from family life? Knowing that the enemy regards any of their civilians killed deliberately or accidentally as martyrs for the cause?

Does Powell not know that leadership begins at the top and someone who will blatantly lie and cover-up their dereliction of duty is liable to do anything to gain or maintain political power? Including using the military for personal political gain if necessary? 

Does Powell not understand that we have given our enemies – the very people who have killed our soldiers and who are likely to continue killing our soldiers – a great intelligence victory? They did not need to send spies to ferret out our military plans, Obama and his cohorts announced them in prime time. We will pull out of this area by this date – all you have to do is sit and wait, attacking our massed troops as they leave if you wish.

But worst of all, does Powell not understand that we have thrown away blood and treasure in surrendering to a third-rate enemy because Obama does not have the guts to win a war? Because he wants to show America as an unexceptional nation among the other nations in this world?

What the hell is Colin Powell thinking as he supports someone so unpatriotic and alien to the American way of life as to be the Manchurian Candidate – acting on behalf of international Marxism.

Bottom line …

I have lost all respect for Colin Powell – not because he continues to support Obama – but because he is blind to what Obama has done to our beloved America and his beloved military. He his left his men on the battlefield – to die alone and disrespected.

-- steve