POWELL BACKS OBAMA; DEFENDS MUSLIM AMERICANS

The most remarkable part of this speech, to me at least, is not Powell's reasoned explanation for why he's backing Obama; it's the back half, where he directly criticizes people for their paranoia of Islam and talks about the personal sacrifices Muslim Americans have made - in defense of their country. It goes much, much further than I've heard any other prominent public figure make, including Obama himself (which is kind of sad, however politically predictable).

Powell also shows a lot more class in crossing the partisan line than Lieberman has but we'll save that for the pundits to hash out.

--O.W.