Colin Powell fed up with McCain's smearing of Muslims and Arabs

In May, after paying a visit to Obama's so-called "Madrasah" in Jakarta, I blogged: "I personally do not think religious affiliation tells us anything meaningful about a candidate's fitness for office."

Today, Colin Powell, while endorsing Obama, emphasized this point. He told MSNBC:

. . . 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 is: No, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be President?

Powell was right to endorse Obama. And he was right to criticize the McCain campaign for not reminding people that it would not be a bad thing if Obama was either Muslim or Arab. In this and other contexts, CNN reported, "Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's campaign."