Powell Follow-Up
In comments, my friend Tim took objection to my post on A Role for Powell, and since he encouraged me to respond, i figured i’d clarify my stance a bit.
I know there has been a lot to scream about, and Powell’s record is far from spotless – in terms of human blood spilled or otherwise – , but it seems to me like you can’t percieve any of the benefits of this endorsement at all. There is nothing good about this? Really? Maybe you should change the name of this blog to the No-Win Zone.
If you reread, my criticism has nothing to do with Powell’s endorsement. I never wrote that there’s “nothing good about this”: there are quite a lot of people who respect Mr. Powell (albeit for reasons that utterly allude me) and will find guidance in his remarks. Like the Ralph Stanley endorsement effect on older white people in Appalachian states like the Virginias, Powell’s recommendation doubtless brings a lot of wavering independents, military members, and moderate GOP people to the Obama side.
But that’s not what I was talking about: it’s the language about “a role as one of [Obama's] advisors.” I’m heartened by Obama’s qualifier, “that’s something we’d have to discuss”, because I don’t see a formal role for someone who helped start the current bloody quagmire even though he knew the reasons for marching into Iraq were without merit. For that matter, I don’t see my local Meineke having a role in any future transmission repairs my car may need, because they’ve ripped me off in the past, albeit with less horrifying results than Colin Powell’s swindle.
“Powell, in case you had your fingers jammed too hard in your ears, deftly told the Islamophobic right wingnuts that McCain can’t seem to silence to shut the fuck up about Obama being a Muslim, and was the first person to actually stand up and say that even if he was, IT WOULDN’T FUCKING MATTER. Nobody on either side has done that. Boom. There you go. That’s good.”
I watched the video, and will admit that I thought Powell’s comments, about how it wouldn’t matter if Obama actually was a Muslim, were excellent. However, a few powerful words by a discredited liar doesn’t make up for the hundreds of thousands of dead innocent Muslims that resulted from his actions in 2002 and 2003. Also, I have to admit I’m not sure how much Powell’s endorsement will matter to the true wingers: Pat Buchanan, George Will, and a bunch of others are pitching the line that ,a href=”http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/21/halperin/index.html”>Powell’s backing Obama simply because he’s black.
I’m also less than impressed by the timing: where was Powell a few months ago? My impression, rightly or wrongly, is that Powell wants to run to the front of the parade now that Obama’s clearly the frontrunner. It allows the general to buff his tarnished image, and distance himself from the collapsing party he’s belonged to his entire life, without actually having to take a risk.
So yeah, it’s good that he endorsed Obama, but I’m troubled by the timing and the self-interest involved.
And, believe it or not, one of the things that most struck me when I saw the (substantially unedited) interview clips of Powell that were taken this weekend was the level of circumspection, culpability and even regret on his part when he spoke in terms of his involvement in Iraq. It wasn’t like he was being hammered on it, either. He brought it up. It vibed candid, rather than scripted or calculated.
Yeah well, spilt milk and all that. I’m sure Ted Bundy regretted killing all those women after he got caught. And while Powell may have regrets, at least he still has his legs and arms, which is more than I can say for this guy, who pretty much lost everything in the war that we rushed into, thanks in no small part to Powell’s lies to the UN.
I don’t think Obama would necessarily offer Powell a serious, permanent role; he’s consulted with him in the past, but I imagine the exchange you quoted was more rhetorical deference than anything. One thing Obama has proven with his campaign is that he carefully chooses the people around him (i.e. going with Biden and not even considering Clinton); I think he would build his cabinet with as much forethought and scrutiny.
I agree with this 100% and hope that we’re both right. I don’t think Obama’s really going to give Powell an important cabinet position either. In all likelihood, it was a rhetorical nicety.
That said, I couldn’t resist the urge to point out what a disgusting waste of flesh Colin Powell is, and how he’s largely skirted any real consequences for his conscious participation in lying to the world to gin up a war that is tearing our nation apart, destroying our economy, and robbing our children of a future.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Fair play. I take my solace (and anticipation of forethought and scrutiny) in that qualifier: “that’s something we’d have to discuss.” I can’t find it online, but I got some good insight on Obama’s careful team-building methods from a piece the New Yorker ran last week on Joe Biden’s vetting. Worth picking up if you can still find it on newsstands. Basically, it made me realize that, despite Obama’s welcoming/grateful overtures to the Powell endorsement that sparked your “role” response, we shouldn’t assume Powell was getting an open-ended cabinet job offer, as much as it may have sounded like one.
And while I don’t trust Powell for a number of reasons (something I alluded to in the first line of my initial critique), I wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth. Yes, you never said “there’s nothing good about this”, but the two Powell endorsement posts you had made (the “role” post was preceded by a post that called unnecessary attention to useless hack boogeyman Rush Limbaugh and his ever-dangerous spew) were devoid of any mention whatsoever of what I see as the glaring, undeniable positives that (and this is key here) added further ruin to McCain’s campaign. Which is kind of like saying that “there’s nothing good about this.” One positive aspect, which I mentioned, is that Powell, whether you respect him or not, made McCain and the mob fringe who have been shouting bald-faced lies in his name look like the unhinged assholes that they are. Another positive is that Powell – again, regardless of what you think of him – represents just one more disgruntled Republican disassociating himself with the (fingers crossed…) sinking ship. This is good for Obama, and good for us. While it’s uncertain whether Obama will do us any good, what is crystal clear is that we are all surely fucked if he doesn’t get elected.