Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama yesterday on "Meet the Press," and it has been seemingly well-received by Mr. Obama's supporters. But it all strikes me as rather odd.
If there is one unique characteristic of Barack Obama's candidacy, it is that he has consistently held that not only was the Iraq War the wrong war at the wrong time and probably in the wrong place, it was begun on faulty (and maybe even deceptive) pretexts. Many Democrats have for years denounced the war as a scam, a neo-con plot rife with imperialism, greed, and a lust for oil. Bad intelligence transmogrified into gross lies, into "cherry-picking" and abuse. Or so it has been claimed.
Moreover, many on the left -- many of whom are die-hard Barack Obama supporters -- believe that Bush and Co. behaved criminally; that there should be prosecutions and impeachments and jail time (and maybe even execution).
Colin Powell, as we all know, is the very man who perpetuated these great crimes before the United Nations. It was Powell who spoke of WMDs, of chemical weapons; he offered stern warnings that Saddam Hussein was a threat to America's security. He was one of the principal "liars."
Now, somehow, he's something of a hero. He who could not be trusted is now amazingly trustworthy. His endorsement of war was at first deemed criminal; his endorsement of the man who will inherit that war (if elected) is now somehow wise, brilliant, courageous. Reliable.
What Powell's "run-up-to-war" status as Iraq War architect means for the Obama campaign can't be easily descried. When Mr. Obama accepts such an endorsement, is he accepting the role Powell played in the Iraq invasion? (Does he believe that Powell's view of Iraq was the right one, or the wrong one? )
Conversely, in endorsing Barack Obama, is Colin Powell agreeing with Mr. Obama's central claim, that the war should never have been started?
Or is an endorsement of Mr. Obama a catharsis; is Mr. Powell exonerated by submitting to the anti-war position of Mr. Obama? In other words, is Barack Obama Colin Powell's absolution?
It is interesting that Mr. Powell's endorsement has not been wildly vilified by the leftists who hate the Iraq War in all its complexities. Maybe it has been vilified and I don't know it. If I have my history right, it was Colin Powell who helped design the first Gulf War, writing into that great plan restrictions that left Saddam Hussein in power. Then, more than a decade later, it was Colin Powell who pushed to have Saddam Hussein removed, all to the detriment, not just of the country, but of the whole world (or so claim the war's many critics). How is it that Mr. Powell's endorsement is not seen as a run for political cover?
Alas, there is more that confuses me here, but I shall have to explore those things some other time.
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3 comments:
Alas, I'm afraid the inconsistencies you point out are deliberately ignored by those who oppose[ed] the venture in Iraq. This election is about personalities. Philosophical consistency be damned.
I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a lady who was vehemently opposed to the Iraq war. I asked her to explain to me the difference between our intervention there as opposed to our intervention in the affairs of Serbia, another small country with an evil dictator which was no threat to the U.S.
After being unable to distinguish the two, she finally blurted, "But Iraq is George Bush's war!"
Indeed.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Back in the 1st Gulf War Rush Limbaugh was fond of saying that the war was about nothing more than the free flow of oil at market prices. I agreed with him then and I agree with that now.
This is why most wars are fought. They aren't fought over idealism, they are fought over commodity. Our political and business leaders were playing chess. They saw a burgeoning and angry religious underclass developing in Saudi Arabia, clearly a threat to an American economy and way of life which relies upon cheap sources of crude oil. The Kingdom was and continues to be in danger of being toppled by Islamic fundamentalists. In my view, the adventures in Iraq were really a hedge against any interuptions in the Saudi pipeline.
Colin Powell was doing nothing more than being a good soldier. He helped to put forth an official mythology. He is now putting forth another mythology, namely, that Barack Obama is presidential.
Good writing. I too was confused by the endorsement. I should have seen the flaws from the left, that no one protested by saying to CP, Thanks, but no thanks.
However, I am praying that Obama, if elected, will be the best president the USA has ever had.
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