One of the most inspirational moments for me in the presidential campaign has been Colin Powell's explanation of his support for Barack Obama on Meet The Press (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_NMZv6Vfh8). Please watch this clip, if you have not seen it already. Powell very eloquently described the wrong turn the Republican party has made and continues to make in focusing primarily on one sector of the country - small town, blue collar communities. As if that is the only group they see as American or as necessary to understand. On the other hand, Obama has worked hard to reach out to all the different types of groups that make up our country, certainly as part of the campaigning process but also because of his own intellectual curiosity and desire to be inclusive.

Powell made a good point that at the McCain/Palin rallies where Obama has been called a Muslim, neither McCain nor Palin have pointed out that being a Muslim is not a crime, which seems to me even more important than whether Obama is or isn't a Muslim. Instead of encouraging people to embrace other Muslims and not assume they are all terrorists, the McCain campaign has only used existing ignorance and fears to link Obama to a domestic terrorist from the 1960s who Obama barely has any link to and who McCain claims he doesn't care about anyway.

It's incredibly refreshing to listen to someone from the Republican party speak without hatred and with sincere concern for how our leaders conduct themselves. I encourage you all to watch it!