The New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica hails the political courage of a local hero: “Somewhere he had to believe he could become what Barack Obama has now become. Powell, the New York City soldier who became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state, had to think that someday he could be the first African-American candidate for President of the United States.

Maybe that is why he threw in with the likes of George Bush and Dick Cheney – even though he was better than both of them – why he helped them, in the worst moment of a remarkable American life, sell their war in Iraq.

We expected better of him, expected him to be the kind of statesman he was Sunday. It was not just because Powell endorsed Barack Obama, but because of the way he did it; the things he had to say about the Republican Party, Powell’s party, and this campaign. Powell didn’t attack John McCain Sunday, just the people he runs with these days as he runs against Obama.

Colin Powell was right about just about everything Sunday. You just wonder now why it took someone as smart as he is, someone whose life is a hymn to all the possibilities of his city and his country, this long to come around.”

Time Capsule

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