The Powell Doctrine

Colin Powell came out with his much rumored endorsement of Barack Obama. I am quite sure the media will trumpet this as a major victory for Obama.
While Colin Powell is a significant figure in American public life, is his crossing party lines any more significant than the 2000 vice presidential nominee of the Democratic Party endorsing John McCain? In the end, I say it is not.
I am not sure Colin Powell moves that many votes into the Obama column. African-American voters? Largely already there. Republicans? Those that are going over to Obama are already there. Military or retired military? Interesting question. John McCain is a true war hero. I do not think that Powell moves enough of those votes to make a difference.
So in the end, the medial will bray about the endorsement. Powell will do a few more television interviews and not much will change.
In making the endorsement however, Powell did say some things that the Republican Party needs to take heed of. He talked about the tone of the campaign and the whisper campaign about Obama being a Muslim. He is not. We all saw the lady at the rally who, before McCain could wrest away the microphone, said she was afraid of Obama because "he's an Arab". He is not. Powell indicated that he was bothered by the tone of the campaign. He is right.
Many Republicans say they are "afraid" of Barack Obama. The Republican Party needs to move beyond the politics of making voters afraid. Ronald Reagan did not make us afraid of the other candidate, he just told us why his ideas were better. The modern Republican Party has been more "anti" things than "for"things. That has to change.
I am not one who says the party needs to alter its view on social issues and become more "moderate". The party of Ronald Reagan was pro-life and likely opposed gay marriage (although I do not really recall it coming up back then), but it is all too easy to speak loudly about what you are against rather than what you are for.
Being for things is difficult. People may not agree with you. There may be other ideas out there competing with yours. You may lose. Being for something however, is how change happens. Reagan was for radically transforming our tax system. He was for strengthening our defenses to confront the Soviet Union and win the Cold War. Ronald Reagan was for reclaiming that shining city on a hill.
Colin Powell is right that the tone is too negative. People are tuning out. Even Barack Obama acknowledged that the Republican Party was the party of ideas over the past 25 years. We have not run out, we just have to remember the ideas we are for.