Today, Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama's candidacy. This is big.
Big. Big. Big.
While I am happy for the endorsement, I think it is big for the reasons that he lays out why Barack Obama and not John McCain. MOST importantly, he articulates what I have said before: it is not a crime to be Muslim.
Damn, it makes me feel proud to be on the same team as Powell.
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I have to say, I'm trying hard not to care about the Powell endorsement. Not because he is not an eloquent man with good reasons, or because I don't think his endorsement will help Obama (it will), but because this is the man who helped, more than many others, get us into Iraq, and who, among other things, helped cover up the My Lai scandal. He has always chosen loyalty to the personage of the US government over the people of the US, and it is too little and too late for him to redeem himself now. He is no Henry Kissinger, but he's far closer than I would like to think. I look forward to him possibly continuing to choose principles for the US people over the plutocrats, but he's got some years more of penance to go before I cheer for him again.
ReplyDeleteHennenberger is too harsh, but not wrong, either.
Point well taken. I remember thinking at the time, "well, if Powell says they have the WMD, they must have the WMD." I was pissed...no LIVID...when I found out that it was all horseshit.
ReplyDeleteHe gained back some of my confidence when he quit the Bush administration. This helps me reconcile what he did as well. I would not begin to put Powell and Kissinger in the same category. Kissinger did it all with the intent to screw the public. Did Powell? Did he know his information was smack? I'm not sure.
If you know, fill me in.
Oh, and the answer to your question about which country with a female leader I'd be most willing to move to....
Ireland is awesome, yes, but the lack of any strong economic base would give me pause. If I have to go somewhere with only a limited economic base, I'm going to New Zealand.
Hnh. What an effete liberal I am -- I didn't even give a moment's consideration to economic base.
ReplyDeleteOh, and of course Powell & Kissinger are in different categories, and I don't think Powell did it with the intent to screw the public. But I do think he convinced himself it was good enough because he is, above all else, a good soldier. He could've stopped the conflagration in any number of ways, including resigning BEFORE the end of Bush's 1st term, or even before the war, but he stayed on for appearance's sake, it seems -- and was hardly a vocal critic afterwards, he's too "loyal."
ReplyDeleteLoyalty to the Emperor is definitely not as bad as BEING the Emperor, or even Darth Vader, but it's still pretty bad.