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Yes, I agree. I have read some of Powell's position papers on leadership and he clearly is not an "afirmative action general", however he believes he benefited in his early career from those policies and has the integrity to admit it. I am sorry that he does not see that a points system based on race is injurious to the candidate being admitted and to those who lost out due to the race delta however small a factor it was.

I'm a black guy who certainly has benefited from affirmative action. Yet I think it must be halted--at least the form which is based on race and sets lower standards for minorities.

Is that inconsistency? Not at all. And here's why. To the extent that this form of AA makes sense, it's as a tactic to give a boost to first-generation "strivers." I mean, minority folks who come from deprived backgrounds and didn't have all the opportunities of middle-class whites. That description covers me pretty accurately.

But it doesn't at all apply to my kids, who have a nice middle-class existence, go to good schools and get good grades. Why should they be treated as "deprived," and in need of extra help? They'll do fine.

Treating my kids as cripples because they're black is frankly insulting. I don't want that to happen to them. And that's why I think Bush is right.

"I have read some of Powell's position papers on leadership and he clearly is not an "afirmative action general..."

He might be in favor of affirmative action, but correct me if I'm wrong...isn't he against gays in the military?