I have great resprect for the guy, of course. but he’s been on the wrong side of bush/rice/rumsfeld since day one.
he has almost no power, and all the important people are ignoring him now.
I can’t help thinking that if I were colin powell
, I’d have arranged a graceful exit by now. The only thing I can come up with is that he is hanging on out of a duty to his country… “retiring? now would show weakness.” I think this is the reason why he he is still nominally “secretary of state”.
I hate to say it, but I believe he’s in Dubya’s cabinet just to be a token non-white non-right-wing guy (yes, there’s Condolizza Rice, but she’s the token non-guy guy 
).
Of course, half the time I wonder why Colin Powell is even in the Republican party to begin with. Maybe he figures there’s less competition for intelligent folks there.
Colin Powell is one of those people that everyone seems to admire without knowing why. Ask a typical conservative for an opinion about Powell, and he’ll usually gush… despite the fact that Powell doesn’t agree with him on any issue of importance.
Bush appointed Powell to the State Department because he wanted some of Powell’s popularity to rub off. But now that they actually have to work together, their fundamental disagreements are showing themselves, as they were bound to.
Powell is smarter than Bush, Rice, and Asscroft combined. His views on foreign policy are always more informed and better thought-out than the official policy. Can we somehow get him and Dubya to switch jobs?
I more or less agree with astorian. I don’t think the Bush II administration would oust him, they’d lose a lot of votes, while they’re trying to build that big tent of theirs. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him resign should he win a second term though <cringe>.
More to the point, Powell is respected around the world, and is deeply knowledgeable. Bush assembled a ‘dream team’ of highly skilled people in his transition cabinet, and got just what he asked for: A bunch of superior folk (Ashcroft excepted). Unfortunately for Bush, he forgot to stipulate “people who will toe my line”.
He keeps Powell for the same reason he hired him in the first place: He’s respected around the world (maybe especially in the US).
Powell for Pres…? He’s got my vote.
Is he still considered to be “people who look like us”?
I have to agree with astorian. Everyone gushes about Powell, but why? He was a fine soldier, which sadly disqualified him from being Secretary of Defense, but where’s the evidence he’s “highly knowledgable” or a particularly effective diplomat?
Following the Gulf War, it sort of became axiomatic that Colin Powell was a great man. Forgive my skepticism, but I don’t see a lot of evidence he is the great genius statesman saint he’s so often made out to be. I respect his refusal to toe any particular party’s line, though.
Although I disagree with nearly everything that comes out of his mouth, is there any evidence that Ashcroft is not intelligent?
He became governor of a state and US Attorney General without any political ties other than those he made himself. Sounds pretty smart to me.
Has Powell really done much outside building the “War on Terror” coalition and trying for the peace in the Middle East (which even Kissinger would have a hard time at)? I haven’t really heard much about him focusing on anywhere else in the world.
He lost an election to a dead guy. (OK, that’s just plain tacky on my part)
He can’t pronounce “terrorist”
More importantly, he seems to believe that people are guilty before they are proven to be so.
He seems to think that I will accept anything the government does if he says “turists” often and loudly enough.
Well, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ashcroft is highly intelligent, but he’s not what I’d describe as “superior folk”. That label requires a bit more integrity and clear-thinking than Ashcroft has recently exhibitied.
Oh… The Dead-Guy election bit is pretty spurrious: Sympathy for the dead guy’s widow, whom had said she’d fill his slot if he won, combined with an election law that wouldn’t permit the dead guy’s name from being stricken from the ballot on such short notice, is what defeated Ashcroft. I mean… How do you campaign against a newly widowed woman, when you have only days left before the election…? Anything he said or did would’ve just made things worse for him. He was stuck.
Secty Powell was in the Army for 35 years, rising to the rank of General. He served as National Security Advisor and, for a brief time, as Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff. He holds a BA in Geography from CCNY and and MBA from George Washington University.
One does not get to be a general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secty of State if you are not deeply knowledgeable. You may not agree with the man’s political affiliation, but you certainly can’t question his credentials or his intelligence.
[Chris Rock] Because he’s sooooo well-spoken. [/Chris Rock]
sorry for dredging up my own thread, but it’s obvious to everyone now that powell will not be back if bush manages to win next year.
I still find it interesting that he has hung on this long. Bush wanted him out long ago, Powell wanted out long ago, yet he is still there.
I think he’s been extraordinarily statesman-like and has held on, while throwing his own reputation away, being a good soldier and doing what his commander in chief has demanded of him.
Powell, a career military guy, took the job because the president wanted him to. He “works at the president’s pleasure,” even when the president just wants him to get the Hell out of the way. He’ll never be a “traveling wizard” in the Kissinger mold, because that’s not what Bush wants.
I personally feel that Kissinger was overrated. Most of his successes were acheived by giving away trainloads of US money.
Did you see him on Letterman when he kept repeating this mantra? I think he was passively venting his frustration about his powerlessness. It was creepy.
Damn you, wireless. Damn you straight to the deepest bowels of hell.
[sub]I wanted to say that![/sub]