Retired General Colin Powell has always been a figure to admire, and his upcoming interview this Sunday on CNN with Fareed Zakaria is indeed another indication of how great a person he is. This is a man who can grow and change by his experiences and he makes two points that I can wholeheartedly agree with.
First, Powell makes clear that Sarah Palin polarized the Republican party in the fall campaign and that her rhetoric and that of Joe the Plumber made the Republican party a party directed toward a narrow base, unwilling to promote unity but rather division. Powell pointed out that the country over the next generation and more will become a nation in which minorities become the majority, and that the GOP cannot have a future if it fails to address the issues that affect African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. The party is doomed unless it adjusts to reality and starts to appeal to those groups who were part of the Obama coalition.Â
Also, Powell, a long time opponent of gays in the military and a supporter of "don’t ask, don’t tell", now feels there is a need to readdress the issue, and that is a tremendous boost toward the end of discrimination, which has harmed recruitment and caused the loss of talented soldiers who were forced out because of their sexual orientation. A number of European nations and Israel have managed to adjust to reality and have benefited by ending the bias against gays, and they have had no problems of discipline and order, as many critics have alleged would happen. This is a great step forward toward ending barriers to acceptance of gay rights, and I applaud Powell for his growth and increased tolerance. He is indeed a great man who has earned the respect of the American people and can assist in the upcoming changes in the military.