If you have not heard, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had some interesting advice for Romney. In regards to him declaring recently that Russia was America’s “number one geopolitical foe.” Secretary Powell, a Republican took firm disagreement with Romney's claim so much so that Powell stated, "Come on Mitt, think." Powell stated,
"Look at the world. There is no pure competitor of the United States of America," he said. "All the problems we talk about in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran ... they count about 700 million people in a world of seven billion. What are the rest of them doing? They're increasing their economies, they're building wealth, they're educating their kids, they're building their infrastructure. That's what we need to be doing."
Powell seemed to indicate that our bigger concerns lay with economic competitors, and that building our economy should be our focus. While Powell held back on endorsing Obama, he none the less expressed satisfaction with Obama's work to date, and went as far as to state he had no problem with gay marriage. Additionally, regarding Obama taking down Bin Laden, Powell stated (se video) that he did so, "brilliantly."
So what does this mean for Latinos? We can't expect our presidential hopefuls to know everything but when it comes to Russia, most Americans however, much less many experts don't wake up every day thinking Russia is our number 1 foe. Having another president (remember Bush/Chen ey) that is inclined to aggression with other nations can lead to unnecessary wars and lack of diplomatic support when needed. We are finally out of Iraq and on track to get out of Afghanistan. This represents money not to be spent on war further crippling our economy. Powell has it right to focus on the economy. Picking fights with Russia does us no good. Our Latino sons and daughters serve our military with honor however, we need to focus on the getting jobs and education for Latinos and the good of the U.S. overall. Russia has proven that having a strong military without a strong economy is a recipe for disaster. Visit The Progressive Latino at: http://www.theprogressivelatino.com/
