The Powell Doctrine
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Glenn went over some of the reasons why Colin Powell said he endorsed Barack Obama on Meet the Press:
“I think he is a transformational figure”
“He is a new generation coming”
“Because of his ability to inspire”
“Because of the inclusive nature of his campaign”
“Because he is reaching out all across America”
“Because of who he is”
“His rhetorical abilities”
“He has both style and substance”
Apparently to Powell, this is “the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.”
Huh?
I'm not one to care about who endorses who, and I don't think endorsements generally matter that much. This probably is about as big as they get, and I still don't know if it will change too many people's minds at this point.
More importantly though– shouldn't democrats shun Powell's endorsement? I mean, reject it out of hand. This is THE guy who “lied” to you about WMDs. Remember that?
This is THE guy who presented the “lies” to the U.N. that brought us into this “illegal war.” Why would you want an endorsement from that guy?
Some have tried to make the case that Powell was forced to lie because of pressure from above (evil Dick Cheney, George Bush, Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, Aliens, etc) but wouldn't that even be worse? A decorated general that puts office politics above soldiers lives?
Sure, you can say that some democrats, even those who were on key committees were “duped” (as ridiculous as that argument is)–but you can't say that about Powell. He–by your definition–lied to get us into an illegal war.
In reality, I think Powell is a genuine hero, who acted honorably with the best information he had at the time. But you can't have the “they lied, troops died” argument AND “the Colin Powell endorsement proves Obama has the experience and judgment to lead” argument. It's one of the two.
By accepting Powell's nod, democrats who made accusations about “lying” to get us into war are basically admitting they were wrong. Considering the endorsement is more directly valuable to their political gain today, I'd guess they'll be happy with the trade off.
