Colin Powell--Played by Himself and by Jeffrey Wright

A group of us went to the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem this morning for the early service to "lay our burdens down." The anxiety racing through my body is nearing lethal levels, and I needed a ritual of release and optimism.  My friend Sylvette was generous enough to include a few of us in her Sunday morning at church.  We were seated up front and welcomed warmly by Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, Pastor, and the men and women seated around us.  

We sang, we listened to a short sermon by Rev. Butts on the discipline necessary to maintain a healthy body and a healthy spirit.  He made us laugh, he made us listen. And we rejoiced in the beauty and elegance of the choir, especially some of the female soloists, adding our voices to those of the congregation in joyful communion.  

While we were in church, Colin Powell was endorsing Barack Obama on Meet the Press, in a seven minute monologue, presided over by Tom Brokaw.

Here is the link to the endorsement; you have to watch a short commercial from Boeing first.  

(Yes, the networks finally got it: they can post their own videos and sell more advertising time!)

When I got back from church, my husband and I watched Powell.  He deferred the actual endorsement when first asked by Brokaw. Instead Powell explained his decision-making process: that although both men, in his judgment, would make fine presidents, during these last seven weeks, some disturbing aspects have revealed themselves about John McCain and about the Republican Party.  He spoke about the inappropriate choice of Sarah Palin as the vice presidential candidate, the unsureness of McCain in the face of this economic uncertainty, and the narrowing of the Republican Party.

We wondered why Powell made the announcement today, until we sat through Oliver Stone's "W."

I don't recommend it.  It's agony sitting through.  One cannot write history while it is still happening.  The characters, all of whom we recognize and have watched for hours upon hours for almost eight years now, are mere parodies of themselves.  Bush is not a tragic character. He is a callow, narcissistic, ignorant, shallow, insecure man who never should have been president.  The script by Stanley Weiser is probably based on Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine"  and Jacob Weinberg's "The Bush Tragedy," both of which I've read, as well as Bob Woodward's several, which I haven't.  

Only heros can be tragic.  Bush never was and never will be.

Colin Powell is a tragic hero and I suspect that the release of the film "W" might have affected the timing of his extraordinary endorsement of Barack Obama.  Jeffrey Wright portrays Powell as the only hero, the man whose integrity and stature were destroyed by the greed, paranoia, and incompetence of the Bush administration's decision to begin a preemptive war against Iraq.

Powell called Obama "transformational."  I agree.  When I see the faces of the men and women and young people at Obama rallies, I see the faces of all of America: all colors, all shapes, all classes. When I see the faces at McCain and Palin rallies, I only see white people who appear to be angry and unhinged.  

I want this country to enter the third millennium ready to be a member of a global community of nations, where we embrace each other and don't rely upon simplistic or singular identities.  

That is the promise of Barack Obama: look at these rallies and see what might be possible if we open our hearts and minds.