“I think, the new president has to realize that the world looks to America for leadership, and so we have to show leadership on some issues that the world is expecting us to, whether it's energy, global warming and the environment. And I think we have to do a lot more with respect to poverty alleviation and helping the needy people of the world. We need to increase the amount of resources we put into our development programs to help the rest of the world. Because when you help the poorest in the world, you start to move them up an economic and social ladder, and they're not going to be moving toward violence or terrorism of the kind that we worry about.
He explained that he made up his mind on Islam based on seeing a picture of a Muslim mother with her head on the gravestone of her son who was killed in Iraq "fighting for this country." And that he thinks it’s shameful to imply that "a little 7-year old Muslim boy" could not aspire to become President one day.
Jonah Goldberg at National Review agrees with Powell that there's nothing wrong with a Muslim running for President, but thinks that his suggesting that the responsibility for these stories lies with McCain is "a low and dishonest blow."

Colin Powell Endorses Obama
The former secretary of state and Joint Chiefs chairman revealed on Sunday whom he is voting for and why. Powell explained that it was not easy to disappoint his friend, John McCain, but that Barack Obama is the “transformational figure” America needs at this moment.
The general became almost tearful at one moment as he indicted the “smear” that Obama is a Muslim, which he described as a smear against all Muslims.
He added, "I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.”

Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America. "