Wow! I was just over at the Cynics's Party and they've got nothing but strong words of derogation and abuse for the most well known General in America.
Despite the fact that Powell is a card-carrying Republican that allowed his prestige and gravitas to be used by the Bush43 administration, I've always held him in high esteem. The Republican thing never bothered me that much, because if Black people are going to become fully vested in the American Dream and the American political system we have to get off the Democratic plantation. Seriously, the DNC acts like it owns Black votes and we saw that attitude reflected in Bill Clinton's asinine comments during the Democratic primaries.
One friend of mine who is a Black, card-carrying Republican broke it down by saying if there was no racism *most* Black people would be Republicans. He further explained that no one group of people loves church and hates gays, the calling cards of the Religious Right, more than Black people. Ignoring the cognitive dissonance of assuming there is no more racism but homophobia is alive and well, I can't help but agree with my man. If you wanted to get even deeper into it, you could point to the issue of school choice too.
But I digress, back to Gen. Powell. I'm actually the only member of my immediate family that doesn't know the man, or hasn't met him on multiple occasions. BigDaddyRat crossed paths with Gen. Powell several times over the course of his 32 year career in the Army, MommaRat knows Alma Powell and has been to the Powell home on several occasions, and SisterRat worked with Gen. Powell at America's Promise a few years back. So my impressions of Colin Powell aren't just drawn from news clips, but rather people that have worked with him and for him and see the guy when the cameras are off. What they tell me is that he's a decent dude, with a strong sense of duty and fairness.
What I have to wonder is how did a man who accomplished so much in his life fall so far from grace? I guess joining the Bush43 administration had a lot to do with it and the dog & pony show he put on at the UN in the lead up to the Iraq war was the nail in the coffin. Still, is it fair for the chattering classes to place so much of the blame for the Iraq fiasco on Colin Powell?
Gen. Powell doesn't believe that anything he could have said or done would have prevented Iraq from happening. In that context, his decision to stay in the Bush43 administration was a logical one; the only way he could hope to influence events in a positive way was as the Secretary of State.
Sometimes we expect too much from our leaders. They are men and women just like the rest of us, with the same faults, flaws, and fears that keep us from being perfect and always doing the right thing. It's a mistake to castigate Colin Powell and disregard the 40+ years he spent serving our country. Was choosing to serve Bush43 a colossal fuck up on Powell's part? No doubt. But I think Mos Def said it best in the song "Umi Says":
I ain't no perfect man
I'm trying to do, the best that I can,
With what it is I have
Tom Lehrer, 1928-2025
4 weeks ago
