In case you missed it, here’s the video of General Powell endorsing Barack Obama this morning:
Of even more interest, though, is what he had to say outside the NBC Studios:
Mr. Powell also told reporters on Sunday that he was troubled that a number of Americans believe that Mr. Obama is a Muslim, although he did not directly link that supposition to the McCain campaign. At a recent town-hall style meeting during whih an audience member said she thought that Mr. Obama was an “Arab,” Mr. McCain replied, ” “No, ma’am, he’s a decent family man.”
“These are the kinds of images going out on Al Jazeera that are killing us around the world,” Mr. Powell said. “And we have got to say to the world it doesn’t make any difference who you are and what you are. If you’re an American, you’re an American.”
Frankly, I think that message is likely resonate more with voters than the McCain campaign’s recent distinctions between “real” American’s and their opponents, between “real” Virginians and areas of the state where they aren’t performing well, and between what Sarah Palin called “pro-American” and “anti-American” parts of the United States.
