Early Rumblings of an Avalanche of Republicans for Obama

Today's Times reports that General Colin Powell and Peggy Noonan are now potential Obama voters:

. . . Colin Powell, secretary of state during President George W Bush’s first term in office, said last week that he might vote for Obama.

Powell said Obama and John McCain, his Republican opponent, “have the qualifications to be president, but both of them cannot be”. He added that he would neither vote for Obama because he was African-Ameri-can nor for McCain because of his military service but for the individual who “brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America . . . regardless of party”.

His argument was echoed by Peggy Noonan, a conservative commentator who wrote woundingly in The Wall Street Journal last week that: “Mr McCain is the old America, of course; Mr Obama the new.” Although she did not explicitly back either candidate, she said: “America is always looking forward, not back, it is always in search of the fresh and leaving the tired. That’s how we started.” Link.

Obama is also making inroads among evangelicals:

Abortion and gay marriage have been regarded as non-negotiable issues, but more now see "whole of life" as more important, and have embraced causes such as climate change, Darfur and poverty, opening the door to voting for a candidate such as Mr Obama.

"Many of them have become very disillusioned with the Republican Party for the way they have been used. Their issues were raised in campaigns and not acted on," said Os Guinness, a leading evangelical scholar, adding that he once heard a senior White House staffer refer to evangelicals as "useful idiots".

"We are now seeing the end of the dominance of the Religious Right, the coalition that made it so powerful is breaking up," he said. Link.

And black conservatives:

Armstrong Williams, a black conservative radio host, is one such black Republican. For all his life, Williams had never voted for a Democratic candidate. However, Williams said that it could change with Obama as the presumed Democratic nominee.

It is obvious that black Democrats will be voting for Obama. Obama seems to have created internal sparks within the group of black Republicans. To them, this is the true battle of ethnicity and ideology.

“I don’t necessarily like his policies; I don’t like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it,” Williams explains. He adds: “I can honestly say I have no idea who I’m going to pull that for in November. And to me, that’s incredible.” Link.