I know that it has been over a month since my last post (in an election year, too!) and for that I apologize.

The one event of last week that I have not been able to get out of my mind is the endorsement of Senator Barack Obama from Colin Powell. After I saw him endorse Senator Obama, I was dumbfounded and could not understand how he, of all people, could endore Obama. I have a theory on why this is the case.

Personally, I think it is part of a power game. Senator Obama has offered Powell a cabinet position if he wants one: this will give Senator Obama a chance to show how he is uniting democrats and republicans within his administration and it will keep Powell influential (and in power) within political circles. This is the only reason that makes sense why a man whose career has been defined by serving conservative leaders would turn and support a liberal.

Now Powell did give a few reasons why he was supporting Senator Obama, but a few of them I find hard to believe. (1)The first was that with Governor Palin coming on to the Republican ticket, it had gone too far to the right for him. Too far to the right? Powell was the National Security Advisor for President Reagan!

But more importantly, we have Senator McCain on our ticket. Does anyone else but me remember the constant criticism he got during the primaries for not be conservative enough? This concept of having a representative from both sides of the party is called balancing the ticket and has been occuring since the birth of our nation. You bring in moderate and a conservative to win both sects of the party in hope of more votes.

Now don’t get me wrong. I have a great deal of respect for General Powell and I wish him the best with the rest of his life. I just think he made a terrible mistake. But we’ll see…

-J. Heffley