Volume III. No. 15
 11-17-04
 Good-Bye To The Voice Of Reason And Moderation
 { Colin Powell Will Leave The Bush Administration }
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004
 

 Colin Powell is too decent of a fellow to have ever really been a good fit
 in the crude out-of-control administration of the second George Bush. 
 Now that his resignation as Secretary of State has been accepted, it is 
 glaringly obvious that he was the wrong man for the job.

 Colin Powell is a man of conscious and reason. Unlike his boss, Powell 
 is neither the far-right idealogue or a hardcore "true believer" as such men 
 as Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. 
 Powell's already named successor, National Security Adviser Dr. Condeleeza 
 Rice is a hardliner also, and is perhaps the closest personal confidante 
 of George Bush in the entire administration.

 He actually listens to her. { so they say... }

 Thus, it is possible that she will serve as a more formidable obstacle to
 the aggressive power-lusting Dick Cheney than Colin Powell was able 
 to be. Despite their common racial heritage and similar backgrounds of 
 a "never-say-die" work ethic, Dr. Rice and the Secretary have markedly 
 different views as to how the world's most powerful nation should approach 
 foreign policy. Translation: Dr. Rice believes unilateralism may be necessary 
 at times. -- And is acceptable. 

 Powell was reluctant to ever bet heavily on that horse.

 There was a moment when Colin Powell stood beside another George Bush
 after the first Gulf War, and was perhaps the most respected and admired 
 man in America at that time. He was viewed as a potential U.S. President, 
 despite the fact that the republican heavies on the far-right were leery of 
 him, even then. He was on the wrong side of the abortion issue and dared 
 believe there was a place in America still for affirmative-action and other 
 programs to help the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. Powell dared 
 believe there was room in the post-Reagan Republican Party for a solid 
 political moderate.

 As they say, "if I only knew then, what I know now." It is not for any of 
 us to judge the real and truthful reasons why Powell declined to seriously
 explore a run at the nation's highest office. He ignored the pleadings of 
 thousands of dead slaves who might have whispered to him. "It is time
 ...time to take back something and walk tall..."

 What we can acknowledge is that Colin Powell badly misjudged the current
 president. He misjudged the man as an affable and harmless Texas moderate. 
 But then, Powell does not carry that blame on his shoulders, alone. A lot 
 of people in the United States misjudged G.W. as a healer, and not as the 
 relentless divider of men he has proven to be.

 Powell also misjudged the influence he would have upon this president. 
 He was badly out-gunned by others in the inner circle at the White House. 
 Powell's influence was greatly reduced once it was realized not only in 
 Washington, but around the globe that George Bush did not value his 
 Secretary of State's opinion as the most independent and important voice 
 on foreign policy issues other than his own. -- No situation could have 
 been more disastrous to an official who's very job was to be the face of 
 the State Department.

 "The wrong man for the job."

 Colin Powell's reputation has been damaged by his loyalty to a man who
 has a very different idea of what the United States should be all about. 
 Now Powell's name will forever be attached to the militarism and arrogance
 of the Chief Executive he chose to serve. His presentation at the United 
 Nations where he described non-existent weapons of mass destruction 
 will forever be an agonizing memory for those who have always defended
 Colin Powell. Sadly, he walked away from what could have been a great 
 moment in American history more than a decade ago. And now his effort 
 to turn his remaining political stature into a sucessful tenure in a White 
 House cabinet position, has ended rather ungracefully.

 There are undoubtedly some who will say that Colin Powell failed as a 
 Secretary of State because he did not denounce Bush's obsession with
 Saddam Hussein at a point when Al Qaeda should have been the main
 target of U.S. vengeance. A resignation before the Iraq War { and prior
 to his U.N. appearance } might have been a poltical statement that could 
 have saved dozens of American and Iraqi lives.

 Blind loyalty is not a good thing.

 This retired U.S. Four-Star General and Secretary of State may still be 
 tagged for greatness. He has time and is certainly young and vigorous 
 enough to endeavor to write a different ending to his political career. 
 But whatever Colin Powell ultimately decides, the future will be far more 
 challenging for him after having served four untidy years in the administration
 of the cowboy who currently sits in the Oval  Office.
 

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