Endorsements with teeth
Oct. 21st, 2008 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI am not happy to see Obama talking about giving Powell a place in his administration. It won't improve his standing in the world, and doesn't, actually, bring him much value at home.
If Powell's (late) endorsement brings anyone to vote for Obama, he has about three years to convince them, based on his performance. Powell being some sort of grand-old man of gravitas and the Old Guard won't make up for poor performance, and steals from good.
And Powell is tainted. He went along with pushing the war. He went to the UN and told lies, in an attempt to convince other people to sign on to what was a doomed effort and immoral (and the revelations of people like Ken Adelman revealing they were told by Cheney the war was all a set up.
His reported anger at the bald-faced lies he was being asked to tell says he knew it was all based on trash. Even if we accord him the face-saving possibility he didn't know it was all to serve some illicit agenda... he knew the excuses he was offering were bullshit, and he went on and sold the war.
That's what he did. He took his good-name and reputation and spent them to convince the American people the war was needed. After his spiel the pundit class was all aflutter; minds agog at how much we knew, and how detailed the evidence was against Hussein.
He had the Weapons, you see. We knew what they were, where they were, and what he wanted to do with them; all of this based on the gravitas of Powell.
That can't be washed away with an endorsement. It sure as hell can't be washed away with one now. Powell could have stepped down four years ago, and endorsed Kerry. He didn't, and that helped Bush stay in office.
The Salt Lake City Tribune, however, made an endorsement, and one that has some merit. I don't know how much it will affect Utah's vote but the explanations are both well thought out, and demanding of some introspection.
Still, we have compelling reasons for endorsing Obama on his merits alone. Under the most intense scrutiny and attacks from both parties, Obama has shown the temperament, judgment, intellect and political acumen that are essential in a president that would lead the United States out of the crises created by President Bush, a complicit Congress and our own apathy.
That is someone owning up to what role they had in the present mess. It's an endorsment to be proud of.
If Powell's (late) endorsement brings anyone to vote for Obama, he has about three years to convince them, based on his performance. Powell being some sort of grand-old man of gravitas and the Old Guard won't make up for poor performance, and steals from good.
And Powell is tainted. He went along with pushing the war. He went to the UN and told lies, in an attempt to convince other people to sign on to what was a doomed effort and immoral (and the revelations of people like Ken Adelman revealing they were told by Cheney the war was all a set up.
His reported anger at the bald-faced lies he was being asked to tell says he knew it was all based on trash. Even if we accord him the face-saving possibility he didn't know it was all to serve some illicit agenda... he knew the excuses he was offering were bullshit, and he went on and sold the war.
That's what he did. He took his good-name and reputation and spent them to convince the American people the war was needed. After his spiel the pundit class was all aflutter; minds agog at how much we knew, and how detailed the evidence was against Hussein.
He had the Weapons, you see. We knew what they were, where they were, and what he wanted to do with them; all of this based on the gravitas of Powell.
That can't be washed away with an endorsement. It sure as hell can't be washed away with one now. Powell could have stepped down four years ago, and endorsed Kerry. He didn't, and that helped Bush stay in office.
The Salt Lake City Tribune, however, made an endorsement, and one that has some merit. I don't know how much it will affect Utah's vote but the explanations are both well thought out, and demanding of some introspection.
Still, we have compelling reasons for endorsing Obama on his merits alone. Under the most intense scrutiny and attacks from both parties, Obama has shown the temperament, judgment, intellect and political acumen that are essential in a president that would lead the United States out of the crises created by President Bush, a complicit Congress and our own apathy.
That is someone owning up to what role they had in the present mess. It's an endorsment to be proud of.
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 06:33 pm (UTC)I don't think that Powell, in 04, could bring himself to endorse Kerry while still in the White House. I remember John Stewart doing an interview with him on the Daily Show and Powell purposely disengaged when John set him up to t-off on the Bush administration.
Assuming Powell isn't going to actively campaign for Obama, I don't think he could have chose a better time for his endorsement in this election cycle--right before early voting started and still fresh enough to be relevant on 11/4.
I listened to that endorsement and I thought it was very good and very powerful and a stinging rebuke of the Republican party and the McCain campaign. And I am fairly sure that neither you nor I were the intended audience.
I still think that he's a powerful speaker and whatever the realities of his service, the public's perception of him is excellent and (was) non-partisan.
And I have to admit, on the basis of Powell's honor, and gravitas I though, for a while, that going into Iraq was a good call. I do think, though, that that presentation to the UN would forever poison whatever governmental trust was placed in him: you couldn't make him Secretary of State again, for example.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-22 03:04 am (UTC)My guess is that he's figured out which direction the wind is blowing, and has set his sails accordingly. Regardless of that, he _is_ highly intelligent, and often a brilliant rhetor -- his comment about American Muslims (such as Cpl. Khan) deserves enshrinement. (And perhaps the Right-Wing Commentator's suggestion that Powell is endorsing Obama purely or largely for racial reasons also does, though in a different sense.)
I'm also pleased to the the reluctant endorsement of Obama by staunch Republicans/conservatives who are capable of perceiving that McCain & Palin would not be competent in office, and of putting the good of the the Nation ahead of sociopolitical ideology.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-23 12:32 am (UTC)Oh, SNAP!
Y'know, McCain is providing an excellent example of Gandalf's observation that "evil oft does good it does not intend". By running the kind of campaign that he has, he's provided Obama with plenty of opportunity to quell any fears about his ability to hold the office. Obama has consistently come off as composed, dignified and unflappable without being stiff -- in short, Presidential in aspect. McCain has suffered badly by comparison.