Postulation
Despite presenting the bad Iraq intel at the UN and serving in the Bush administration, people, broadly, still like and trust Colin Powell.
He has managed to push his blame onto the administration.
He has managed to push his blame onto the administration.
posted by mikevotes at
10:48 AM
6 Comments:
He has managed to push his blame onto the administration.
He succeeded in this by denouncing the fixing of intelligence relatively early on, and admitting he was played for a sap. Others made cop-out excuses (e.g. everybody believed it) or blamed the intelligence agencies rather than the Administration, and took far too long to do even that.
Just as his embrace of the case for invasion was an immense boost in credibility for the Administration, his early abandonment of it was a big boost to those critical of it.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 12:01 PM
Long ago I read somewhere that, although Powell lacked the surrogates within the administration to be the preeminent force, he was an agile "inside knife fighter," and that one of his main traits was his ability to frame himself coming out of situations.
By
mikevotes, at 3:01 PM
I suppose I was hoping for more of a "Richard Clarke" performance from Powell, but I suppose he's really gone quite far in saying "everything the inner cabal told you was a lie." Still, IF he comes out publicly in support of Obama, he's going to have to explicitly reject the current course in Iraq and advocate for a specific new course.
If not to denounce the current (and past) Iraq strategy, what else does Powell offer? Besides a general feel-good vibe. Without a specific, policy base, reason for his supporting Obama, the Right (and possible many independents) will just see this in race terms, I'm afraid.
By
-epm, at 7:44 PM
I don't know how Powell would thread that Iraq needle.
And he does bring something. Heavyweight credibility inside the beltway.
(And as I said the other day when this first came up, this would have the potential to be the ugliest race moment within the mainstream because Republicans are going to desperately want to paint it as race.)
By
mikevotes, at 10:23 PM
"And he does bring something. Heavyweight credibility inside the beltway"
A very good point. One I'm sure you alluded to before but I missed.
And regarding the race thing... That's why any Powell support HAS to be framed emphatically around an Iraq policy. Otherwise, as we both agree, the noise machine and FOX chyron will be running overtime to frame this as a Jesse Jackson event, if I'm not being to disrespectful to the reverend.
And with regard to an Iraq policy, I don't know if Obama really has a post primary plan beyond withdrawing troops as soon as safely possible. Maybe Powell could help him develop a proactive, non-military plan for Iraq. That would be interesting. Powell could finally have the influence he was denied in the Bush WH.
By
-epm, at 7:56 AM
This comment has been removed by the author.
By
-epm, at 7:57 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home