I note with some interest that former chairman of the Joint Chiefs and former secretary of state Colin Powell has endorsed President Obama for a second term.
What a surprise.
Summarizing the past four years under Obama, Powell said “Generally we’ve come out of the dive and we’re starting to gain altitude.” He acknowledged that problems remain, saying “The unemployment rate is too high, people are still hurting in housing but I see that we’re starting to rise up.”
Turning to foreign policy, Powell said he saw “the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid. And so, I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on.”
All very amusing coming from the man whom, along with Clinton holdover George Tenet was chiefly responsible for selling President Bush on the Iraq War and 'nation building'. I could say quite a bit, were I so inclined, about the hypocrisy of General Powell blaming President Bush, the man whom promoted him for policies he was instrumental in promoting just as soon as they went sour.
I suppose to Colin Powell, Libya doesn't count as a war and Little Rock, Fort Hood and Benghazi don't count as terrorist attacks.And a stagnant economy counts as 'starting to rise up'.
In another part of his charming little stand up routine, General Powell said: "I think I'm a Republican of a more moderate mold. That's something of a dying breed I'm sorry to say."
Now that's odd. We have a relatively moderate Republican running this year, and an extremely moderate Republican whom ran in 2008. And guess what? Colin Powell didn't endorse either of them and what they have in common is that they're both white and both ran against Barack Obama.
The truth of the matter is that Colin Powell rose to prominence as an affirmative action general under Republican presidents and found it convenient to proclaim himself a Republican back then. He did quite well out of it.
But at this point, he's retired and no longer needs to wear that facade anymore. So he's free to endorse someone who amounts to an affirmative action president based on racial solidarity.
He's certainly well within his rights to do so, but I'd much rather he take Samuel L. Jackson's stance and was honest about it.
It would be a refreshing change for him.
1 comment:
as this is bush's third term, i see nothing wrong with what this doofus has said.
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