Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, from the transcript of "Meet the Press" this past Sunday, when he announced his endorsement of Barak Obama for President: (If you enjoy listening to an articulate diplomat, follow the links here to the netcast.)

"I have especially watched over the last six of seven weeks as both of them
have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are
in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I've gotten a
good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a
little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and
almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that
concerned me, sensing that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic
problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of
Governor Palin. She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired;
but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven
weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which
is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my
mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.

On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him during this
seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual
curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this
and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one.
And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing
intellectual vigor. I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing
business that would serve us well. I also believe that on the Republican
side over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr.
McCain has become narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has
given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our
people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational
lines. He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have
values, not just small towns have values.

And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches
that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are
not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about.
This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a
central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out
terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? And why do
we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that,
because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with
Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they're trying to connect
him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that's
inappropriate.

Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can
go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too
far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little
narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I
look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And
the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated
a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more
conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking
at in a McCain administration. I'm also troubled by, not what Senator
McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said
such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct
answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a
Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there
something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not
America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American
kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior
members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be
associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in
America."