Inaguration Streaming Live

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Powell to the People


I just finished watching Colin Powell endorse Barack Obama.

The main thing to know about Colin Powell is that he got where he got in life through his service in the Army, and army values are his values. This means you defend those who can't protect themselves and that you ultimately serve the American people. This is why he is so respected in this country. He also believed in deferring to will of your superiors, and finding and following patrons who can get you ahead. This is what got him to the top in the military, but got him into trouble after he left the Army.

Colin Powell is, like Barack, a child of immigrants who grew up in occasional poverty. In Colin's case, both his parents were from Jamaica, and he grew up in the Bronx. He worked his way up from the bottom of the officer corps in the Army clear to General and eventual Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A lot of folks in the Army, particularly the african-american enlistees, held the man in awe. I remember a video of one poor guy who was meeting Colin at the airfield and looked like he was so nervous he close to passing out.

After he retired there was a lot of pressure on him to "come out" as a republican. At the time they were making a big effort to recruit African-Americans in an attempt to whitewash over their party's unsupportive stances on minority issues. It was pretty clear the Reps had all kinds of great leadership positions lined up for him. My impression at the time was that the main problem was that the guy was just not a Republican.

Sure enough, when he finally did make a statement about it, he said that if he were to be a Republican, it would be a Rockefeller Republican. For those of you who aren't fluent in policialesse, that means as a liberal. This one statement immediately cooled the ardor of the religious right, but the pragmatic libertarian wing of the party still wanted him and his credibility for their whitewashing campaign. So into the Republican fold he came, but with a set of enemies already. Even his patrons felt like he was more of a useful tool than someone to actually be listened to.


Eventually he met the fate of all who the Republican rulers see as useful tools; he was used up and thrown away. Knowing he was the one person in their administration who had any credibility (eg: was known not to lie), they sent Colin up to the UN with their pack of lies about Iraq having WMD's. Of course as soon as the lies were exposed, Colin didn't have any more credibility, so he was no longer useful to the Bush administration. Plus he had an annoying habit of showing scruples, and trying to talk people out of the various stupid ideas the administration had (eg: Unconstitutional jalings, Torture, etc.). So out he went.

I really do feel sorry for the guy, but as we say here in Oklahoma, if you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.

Anyway, after watching him for a half an hour, he's still the same guy. Admirably principled, dedicated, thoughtful, but reticent about saying quite what needs to be said about his former superiors. He came close, but did not quite say that "Compassionate Conservatisim" was a failure. He didn't even hint at what everyone on boths sides knows, that it was never anything more than a marketing slogan.

However he spent several minutes in a passionate defense of Muslim Americans. Many people have not quite caught on that the "Obama is a Muslim" whisper campaign is in a way more of a slander against Muslim Americans than against Barack. This is something I've been trying to say for some time, but never with that kind of eloquence or effectiveness. It was enough to make me tear up. This is something he did not have to do with his time this morning. However, they certainly need defending. He saw that and he stepped up and did it on the biggest platform he could get himself. That, if nothing else, should tell you about the character of Colin Powell.

So there you have it. Colin Powell; American hero, flawed warrior, and Barack Obama supporter.