Colin Powell: Four-Star Turncoat

I wanted to address the Colin Powell endorsement of Barack Obama.

It should always be understood that Colin Powell is a politician first, and a General second. Americans frequently confuse this order. Powell’s political instincts are a vital part of his core as a person and have served him extremely well in life. They have been constantly used as a tool for his advancement. After being a "C" student at City College in NY, he rose up the ranks in the military with his political skills and amazingly achieving the rank of Four-star General without ever being a divisional commander. This is an extremely rare military occurrence. This also happened to Dwight Eisenhower. Franklin Roosevelt needed a calm demeanor that he could trust directing his war efforts and he could not control the egos of Patton and MacArthur, so he appointed Eisenhower. Eisenhower was a politician as well, proven by he later became president.

To underscore this statement of Powell being a politician first, how many Generals do you know that have the political aptitude and diplomacy to be Secretary of State? I mean, can you image Norman Schwarzkopf sitting across the table, drinking tea, with North Korea’s Kim Jong Il? Schwarzkopf would lunge across the table and take him out. That is a general who is a general first. The spartan element.

I also believe Powell road the coattails of Normal Schartzkoft’s success in Desert Storm for his own benefit. At the press conference after the successful invasion of Kuwait, Powell’s handed off the press conference to Schwarzkopf to explain the invasion. He did this because Schwarzkopf knew it best to explain in, because Schwarzkopf was the mastermind behind it.

Powell has always been a Democrat in Republican clothing, His RNC speech a few years back could have been given word for word at the Democratic Convention, highlighted by his pro-abortion view, the same year and been well received. He was a Republican because that was the political party/administration that was in power for the 12 years when he needed to rise through the ranks, literally.

Powell saw his Obama endorsement as a way to find his way back to his true party, and advance the Powell cause at the same time. A perfect political move. He waited until Obama was up double-digits in some polls and there were only two weeks left to the election to endorse him. Not really a brave move of conviction; it was a political move of expediency. So goes Powell.

Powell endorsed Obama with talking points that seem as if they were directly taken from Obama’s campaign. Obama represents change - - a "transformation figure", is a dynamic orator, he has "style and substance" [Blogger Note: tons of style, no substance], and Powell didn’t like people mentioning Obama’s Muslim background (which is a electorate concern in middle America). Sarah Palin was a ditz, not ready to be President, which according to the polls is a deciding factor to undecided voters. Could not have been scripted better. On Meet the Press, no less.

The Monday after the endorsement, Obama stated that Powell would have a role in his administration. It was a Quid Pro Quo, nothing else. Nothing of courage, nothing of integrity, nothing of underlying principled value. Sadly, the endorsement will sway some people.