Powell’s endorsement

I knew Powell was going to endorse Obama on Meet The (De)Press(ed) from news leaks earlier in the week, so I made a point of tuning to watch how he was going to do it.  In talking to several people who also saw parts or all of it, we all had the impression that Powell seemed a bit ill at ease.  He may have been a bit under the weather, as his coughing indicated, although he did look healthy enough.

I found his reasons for supporting Obama to be rather weak.  He described Obama as eloquent, willing to talk to people, a “transformational” figure and as having a curious intellect.  These are all good qualities in a person, but they hardly qualify one to be president.  I did not hear any specific policy he could cite which formed the basis of his endorsement.  I can’t take him seriously as a result; he sounds little different that the legions of Obamabots.

The comment about intellectual curiosity reminds me of the oft repeated insults levied at Bush.  Bush may not be a philosopher king in the mold of Marcus Aurelius, but I think it’s foolhardy to dismiss him as an idiot who is not curious about anything.  He has accomplished most of his objectives as president, whether one agrees with them is irrelevant.  Powell was sounding all too much like the MSM about Obama.

Why was he twitchy?  I don’t know.  Either he realized what kind of flak he would get from fellow Republicans, or he was scared of the flak he was going to get from the left.  The left is left in a curious place now; they condemned Powell for his role in the Iraq war (especially since he is believed to have opposed it) now they have to put that aside and cite his endorsement of Obama as a testament to Obama’s credentials.

I don’t believe those who claim Powell did this because Obama is black.  He did at one point say that “if it were ONLY about race” he would have endorsed Obama earlier.  I think there’s a danger in reading too much into this.  I suspect that Powell is both bitter at his treatment by the Bush administration, and he’s being a bit of a political opportunist here.  He didn’t close the door to an appointment in the Obama government when Brokaw pressed him on it.

Had he come out a few months ago when the polls were closer, then this would mean a lot more (although it takes the news media away from McCain for the moment, which isn’t good with less than 3 weeks to go).  I think Powell just looked at the latest polls and is trying to get on the bandwagon.

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