I listened to Colin Powell’s comments on Meet the Press that have been
rebroadcast this afternoon. I found them puzzling. I could be cynical
and say, “this his attempt to salvage his national reputation for
history.” or be charitable and say, “Like very thinking human being, his
views have evolved.”
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But let’s be clear. If the national policies, rhetoric and campaign
tactics of John McCain are wrong and divisive now, they were just as
wrong and divisive when they were practiced by the Republican Party
under the guidance of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove…not to mention many
lesser campaign stars. If you damn John McCain now for how he is
treating his opponent and the country; you must also damn Ronald Reagan,
George Bush 1 and W. Because they did some of the same things, just not
as openly. They approved and funded such attacks and division politics,
but kept plausible distance; however, those attacks were part and parcel
of their campaign as much as they are of McCain’s.
So some may think of Powell as the “Good Soldier”. Not me. He had
multiple chances to slow or derail the wrongheaded and disastrous BushII
policies, but he placed self and Party before Nation….just as McCain
has. That he NOW endorses Obama, when it seem apparent he is going to
win, well, I’ll take it with a grain of salt. Its welcome but I’m more
impressed by the tens of thousands Obama has inspired to work in his
campaign. More impressed by the hundreds of thousands who come out to
hear him speak. More impressed by the millions of new voters and
campaign contributions (a vast majority less than $100). Much more
impressed by his and Dean’s “Fifty State strategy”, treating the United
States AS the United States-as a whole. A whole that will have to be
united once the campaign is over and really tough problems faced. As
opposed to the Republican “divide and conquer” strategy; which leaves
the country weaker and weaker.
So thanks Colin, you ready to put action behind words and hit the campaign trail? No?
I didn’t think so.
R
