Posted on 06/16/2007 4:51:29 PM PDT by LdSentinal
One has held high office in both the United States armed forces and President George W Bush's Republican administration. The other, a Democrat, is seeking to become America's first black president.
Now Washington is buzzing with talk that Barack Obama, the candidate for the White House, and Colin Powell, the former general and secretary of state, may join forces.
New alliance: Colin Powell, left, has served three Republican presidents, but he is now willing to throw his lot in with Democrat Barack Obama
Last week, Mr Powell revealed that he has been advising the senator from Illinois on foreign policy - provoking a flurry of speculation about the plans and ambitions of both men.
Mr Powell, 70, who left office in January 2005 under a cloud left by the war in Iraq, has served three Republican presidents, but made clear that he is considering backing a Democrat to succeed his former boss, George W Bush.
He disclosed that he has twice met Sen Obama, at the request of the White House hopeful. "I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me," Mr Powell said. "I'm going to support the best person that I can find who will lead this country."
He ruled out any speculation that he may seek the vice-presidency. But asked if he would accept another senior post, he said: "I would not rule it out. I am not at all interested in political life if you mean elected political life. But I always keep my eyes open and my ears open to requests for service."
advertisementMr Powell was the first black secretary of state, under the current President Bush. Before that, he served Mr Bush's father as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was national security adviser to president Ronald Reagan.
In 1995, Mr Powell was wooed by senior Democrats as well as Republicans who wanted him to run against Bill Clinton for the presidency in 1996. He eventually ruled it out because his wife did not wish him to become a target for racist assassins. Sen Obama, 45, has already received unspecified death threats.
Otherwise, they are not obvious partners. Sen Obama, alone among the Democrat frontrunners, opposed the Iraq war from the start - a war that Mr Powell's now discredited testimony before the United Nations on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programmes is seen to have helped bring about.
A former adviser to President Bill Clinton - whose wife, Hillary, is the other leading Democratic candidate - welcomed Sen Obama's links with Mr Powell as a sign that he wants to heal the divisions in American society.
Philip Crowley, the director of homeland security at the Centre for American Progress and a former White House special assistant, said: "It's refreshing that we have a candidate that wants to craft a centrist policy that will reach out across party lines."
He added: "Mr Powell is a unique individual. He was chairman of the joint chiefs, he's been national security adviser and the secretary of state, so he's uniquely positioned to look at foreign policy from multiple points of view."
Polls show that while Sen Clinton has most support from registered Democrat voters, Sen Obama's appeal is greater than hers among independents, who are expected to hold the key to the election. Opinion appears unusually volatile: a poll of likely primary voters on Friday put Sen Obama on 32 per cent, only four points behind Sen Clinton, who last month led by 13 points. Other polls, which have featured more independent voters not certain to vote, have put Sen Obama level.
In many ways, Mr Powell is closer to Sen Obama and independent voters than he is to the Republicans. He was also frustrated that his "Powell Doctrine" of military operations - that overwhelming force should be used but only with international support - which he developed after his experiences in Vietnam, was ignored in Iraq. In an interview with the television programme Meet the Press last week, he also distanced himself from President Bush, declaring that he would close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "this afternoon".
Sen Clinton still enjoys a lead over Sen Obama among black voters - though that gap has narrowed - and both candidates have sought to woo prominent blacks. The author Maya Angelou endorsed Sen Clinton last week.
But her support is concentrated among poor blacks, many of whom are yet to be convinced that Mr Obama - who does not share the slave heritage of most black Americans - is one of their own. He does better with university educated voters, both black and white.
The blogger Too Sense, who writes on racial issues, said: "Powell's meeting with Obama is a brilliant move. Obama's association with another one-time potential black president, a black man who white America has found so non-threatening that he was held up as a model for 'the rest of us', can only increase his appeal."
Another reason to dislike obama hussein
an obama/powell alliance is the lesser of two evils than a mrs. clinton/burglar/albright alliance.
JMHO
Powell has only one loyalty and that is to his color. When it boils down to its essence, this man was affirmatively actioned into his positions all of his life. One can say how intelligent he is or how deserving he is but IMO he would have never got where he is today without the race card.
You suppose Colin will bring along his buddy Richard Armitage as head of counter intelligence?
Yeah, probably also to our enemies. Powell thy name is infamy.
Boy, talk about a lose lose choice. I’m not in the least surprised by the racism implicit in Powell’s course of action.
Man oh man.....you have to be UP FOR SALE to go from Bush to Obama!!! No scruples, no loyalty.....just BLACK, I guess. Powell did HUGE harm to Bush by having a second govt going in the State Dept.......Powell was ALWAYS Bush’s WEAKEST LINK.
Finally his true color is showing.
Absolutely. Already under GHWB.
Obama/Powell ticket would be formidable.
I don’t know. I haven’t been a Powell fan for a long time. This story wouldn’t surprise me in the least. He’s worked against this administration even while he was working for it. Backstabber.
I think you are wrong. The alliance you mention is second to another: his personal advancement. Whatever gets him ahead.
Maybe, but I think it would split the Dim votes. There are a lot of Dims who wouldn't vote for a black let alone a double black ticket.
I don't like Obama because he is inexperienced and a very liberal person (and there is the muslim connection possiblility).
I don't like Powel because he's a liberal, a back stabber, and a foreign policy obstruction artist.
With
Cynthia McKinney as Secretary of State
Keith Ellison as Secretaty of Homeland Security
Jesse Jackson as Secretary of Defense
William Jefferson as Secretary of the Treasury
Al Sharpton as Attorney General
Powell is the biggest afirmative action case ever.
John
A President Obama al-Husseini would re-convert to Islam within one year of his taking office. America would not survive.
Sounds like you have worked out the particulars. I think Jefferson might better serve as Attorney General. Al Sharpton would be effective as laison to the Antidefamation League. And yes, I say bring back, to get it right this time, Joselyn Elders as Secretary of Health and Human Resources.
I read that Powell, as deputy NSA, was against Reagan saying “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” because it would sound too extreme. Thank God Reagan didn’t listen to him.
Go ahead, Little People, give Colin a call! I'm sure he'd be happy to have you over for dinner!<</sarc>
First Oprah and now Powell, is this guy on a roll or what? bwahahahaha!
Obviously, ideas don’t mean anything to him.
Well, goody for him.
With
Cynthia McKinney as Secretary of State
Keith Ellison as Secretaty of Homeland Security
Jesse Jackson as Secretary of Defense
William Jefferson as Secretary of the Treasury
Al Sharpton as Attorney General
I still cant get over the fact that Powell and Armitage let the whole Valerie Plame farce drag on as long as they did. They were the ones who outed her, didnt say anything and they face no charges or penalties of any kind? What a joke.
Powell... a Liberal ??
Didn’t see that comin’
//Sarcasm off
The only thing “new” in the entire piece is the conclusion reached by the author that he is “ready to jump”.
Out of the millions of bloggers, he quotes some dude named Too Sense and unless I skipped it - he doesn’t even mention where Too Sense’s blog is does he? Ridiculous.
Maybe whats really going on in Washington D.C. is not what we think is happening.. A lie so big few would dare to speak it.. Some have said that the bigger the lie the MORE easily it would be believed by the unwashed.. Could be the same with a real time lie.. Cause something is going on, no many things, in Washington D.C. that don't add up..
George Bush white washing the Sandy Berger affair is telegraphic.. The political incest is deep..
I doubt the source...
Colin Powell not long ago described the Democrat Party as “brain dead.” Now he’s supporting it. I wonder what that says about him?
I can't begin to explain just how offensive I find the common use of the term "non-threatening" in this type of context.
True General Powell favors strong international support for any military undertaking, but my understanding of the “Powell Doctrine” is that it is based in part on U.S. Military Doctrine which places heavy emphasis on a “Mission Statement, “Commander’s Intent” and “End-state”.
That is, any military mission must as a minimum have a clearly defined reason for going. A clearly defined mission, or goals to be accomplished. A clearly defined end-state or circumstances which when achieved signal the end of the mission.
Additionally the Powell Doctrine emphasizes the need for a clear plan as to how U.S. forces will leave theater, or if they are intended to leave at all. The plan for coming home is at least as important as the plan for going in.
This is my understanding of the “Powell Doctrine”
Mr Powell revealed that he has been advising the senator from Illinois on foreign policy - provoking a flurry of speculation about the plans and ambitions of both men.
—
LOL
Oops, sorry, this is supposed to be a serious thread, huh?
Paris Hilton - Surgeon General
William Jefferson - Secretary of Commerce and Trade
Buh Bye Hillary, Hello Obama.
I think this is actually good news for Republicans. We get rid of RINO Powell, we possibly depose Hillary, and stuff shirt Obama has zero chance in the General.
Colon Powell is the greatest example of why there should not be affirmative action. A glorified supply sergeant as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and then Secretary of State? C’mon, there ARE qualified “people of color” who aren’t liberals pretending to be conservatives.
A word to the wise, for Gen. Powell: Better to remain silent, and appear a fool, than to speak, and remove all doubt.
Is anyone really that surprised???
I was thinking the exact same thing!!!
Here’s all any Conservative needs to know about Barrack Hussein Obama:
Special Interest Group Ratings:
Planned Parenthood - 100% Support
National Right To Life - 0% Support
NARAL - 100% Support
Americans for Tax Reform - 0% Support
ACLU - 83% Support
NEA - 100% Support
NOW Hags - 100% Support
Citizens Against Government Waste - 13% Support
Gun Owners of America - 0% Support
NRA - “F” Rating
Federation for American Immigration Reform - 0% Support
US Border Patrol - 8% Support
Unions - 82% - 100% Support
Population Connection - 100% Support (These are the ‘Zero Growth’ freaks)
http://vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=BS030017
[Barrack Hussein Obama’s record in the Illinois senate:]
- Opposed the Defense of Marriage Act; would work to repeal it in the U.S. Senate; would not vote for any legislation that would restrict the ability of gays and lesbians to marry.
- Opposed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act four times in Illinois. A similar bill passed the U.S. Senate 98-0. The Born Alive bill would have prohibited a baby from being born alive but left to die according to the mother’s wishes. Obama inexplicably opposed this bill not once, twice, or three times, but four times.
- Obama took almost $90,000 in bundled contributions from the Council for a Livable World. The council is a well-known anti-defense organization.
- Obama puts rigid ideology before what’s best for the people of Illinois, and presumably he would do that as President as well. He has on several occasions made public his opposition to the NAFTA trade agreement and his belief that it must be negotiated. All the while thanks to NAFTA, Illinois exports $1.3 billion in agricultural goods to Canada.
- Obama refused to vote for a bill in the Illinois State Senate that would have increased penalties for drug traffickers.
- Obama voted against a bill that would have delivered the death penalty to gang members who murder first responders.
- Finally, just in case you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Obama was the only member of the Illinois State Senate to vote against a bill that prohibited early release for sexual predators.
Can’t kill the innocent fast enough, can’t free the guilty soon enough!
Re: the “Powell Doctrine”
You forgot one vital component of said ‘doctrine’, which is to leave the President of the United States and the executive branch twisting in the wind instead of stepping forward to inform the President that it was one of HIS guys, the ferret-weasel hybrid Richard Armitage, who leaked Valerie Plame-Wilson-Bimbo’s name, NOT anybody else, and as we now know, certainly not I. Lewis Libby.
In other words, personal loyalty is up for sale to the highest bidder.
He seemed to be a rising star at one time but now he has fizzled, good news for Obama and good news for us. The wagon is headed down the road where there is a cliff just ahead. Have a nice trip you two!
You may be right, but the Powell/Obama ticket would have some flash. Powell, due to the media hype, transends race issues in the mind of liberals and liberal republicans would run to vote for him.
That would be funny if it didn’t look like a real possibility.
Why not go all out and make Joe Wilson Sec. of State and Val Plame DCIA or DNI?
Hilarious, the kind of “Republicans” we have today
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