Folks,
let's get back on topic. This thread was started in response to BO's comments in the aforementioned article, it was not meant to be a referendum on Colin Powell's or Condi Rice's qualifications. If you want to discuss that, then start another thread.
Back to the point at hand-- He, BO, is basically sandbagging and firing a preemptive strike at the republicans by saying this, in my opinion. "Playing the race card" is well known here in the US to mean that you claim victim status and/or unfairness because someone or some group has made your race the central matter in a given issue, usually in a negative light. As someone that is not a registered member of any party and that respects people regardless of their race, color, or ethnicity, I'm telling you this is not going to play well in middle america. It may in LA, NYC, Boston, Vermont, Massachusetts, Seattle, and Oregon, but he will have to win over a lot of us here in flyover country if he wants to be the next president. Ignore the national polls--they don't mean anything. I have no doubt BO will win the popular vote in nov, but he has to win the ELECTORAL vote to win the white house. Playing the race card like this does nothing to engender support from folks that live between the left and east coast.