Disappointed to see Gen. Powell endorse Sen. Obama. This confirms a few things about Powell that we already knew, and tells us a couple things we did not. First, Republican suspicions about his domestic policies have been correct. Not that he kept them hidden. But his 1996 flirtation with a run against Bill Clinton made some of us willing to pretend they were not there.
It is likely that his decision was driven in part by the opportunity to rehabilitate himself in the history books and among left-leaning opinionmakers (who are the most influential in the media and popular culture, after all). No doubt he is still looking for a way to move his resume and image beyond his pitching for the war to liberate Iraq.
That’s what we already knew. What we didn’t know is that his estimation of character, from the perspective of a 71-year-old man and a former military leader at the highest level, could be so spectacularly wrong. Gen. Powell put his life on the line in combat, along with the lives of many men. Yet today he offers the shade of his considerable reputation to a man whose “spiritual advisor” of two decades, Rev. [sic] Jeremiah Wright, despises this nation; and to a man who was pleased to work side-by-side with self-admitted domestic bomber, William Ayers, who attempted to kill Gen. Powell’s own colleagues at the Pentagon (among other places).
What we also did not know is how little Gen. Powell follows the news. In his interview this morning he mistakenly–falsely–attributed the worst rumors about Sen. Obama to the McCain campaign, and without evidence. (Perhaps those who criticized his judgment over the UN presenation and its dubious evidence will see a pattern here? Nah.) And while he criticized Sen. McCain for his “negative” campaigning, he simply ignored the perpetual misrepresentations of the Obama campaign about Sen. McCain’s positions, especially his health plan, and seemed unaware of how the Obama campaign and its allies have cried “racism” at every other criticism.
Gen. Powell can now look forward to being left out of from the hostility directed at the Bush Administration over Iraq; with this endorsement he has in large part absolved himself to the mainstream press and well-placed commentators–not all, but a lot.
How can a man who risked his life for his country endorse a man whose friends hate this country? I have always admired Gen. Powell, but today I cannot. I am not sure if I will again.
I espect this sort of thing out of ex-military men such as Jim Webb and Gen. Wesley Clark; after distinguished careers they proved themselves rank opportunists, and long ago. But not Gen. Powell.
For once, I agree with the left. After Iraq, they doubted his judgment. After the endorsement, so do I.
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