Day: May 6, 2009

Colin Powell, certainly one of the most honored of all American public figures, has been an uncomfortable fit in the Republican party, ever since he declared his party affiliation in the mid 1990s.

Having served the last few Presidents in various capacities, and having retained his reputation and dignity in the process,  no easy accomplishment, now the conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has suggested that Powell should switch to the Democratic party as his views are overly critical of the rightward swing of the GOP.  Also, Limbaugh claims that Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama for the Presidency last fall was simply a racial matter,  not based on anything else.

Limbaugh, as usual,  is outrageous in his assertion about Powell and the race issue as related to Obama.   Limbaugh has been calling for many people he does not agree with to leave the party, including John McCain and Megan McCain.  So calling on Powell to leave is not surprising.

I must say, however, that the Democrats would welcome Powell to their party, as in my mind, he should always have been a Democrat since the beginning.  🙂

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania is certainly one of the more interesting members of the Senate and truly an independent.  A Democrat until he ran for office in Philadelphia in 1965, because he saw no opportunity to get ahead without a switch of party, he was comfortable as a Republican in his early years in the Senate, but then became more and more a maverick who many thought belonged in the Democratic party.

Now, because of growing difficulties adjusting to the rightward tilt of the GOP, Specter has switched back to the Democrats, and assumed that he would keep his seniority.  But because of his maverick nature and refusal to term himself a "loyal "  Democrat, the party caucus decided to reject his seniority and to treat him as a beginning freshman in the party, which has angered Specter.

So I have a feeling that he must regret his decision to leave the Republican party, and the possibility that Tom Ridge, former governor and Homeland Security Secretary under George W. Bush, might run for the Republicans as their candidate for Specter’s Senate seat in 2010,  makes it possible that Specter might yet  be forcibly retired next year anyway, something Specter was trying to avoid by evading a Republican primary against a conservative opponent.  And, despite President Obama’s pledge to campaign for Specter,  the senator might yet have a strong Democratic opponent for the Senate nomination as well.

So the Pennsylvania Senate race may be one of the most interesting races in the midterm elections of 2010.  One thing is certain:  Arlen Specter will not leave the political scene quietly!