To no one’s surprise, Colin Powell has re-endorsed President Obama’s re-election. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, former secretary of state and chief public salesman of the Iraq war which Obama undermined for years told CBS News today that he is “sticking with” Obama.
Summarizing the past four years under Obama, Powell said “Generally we’ve come out of the dive and we’re starting to gain altitude.” He acknowledged that problems remain, saying “The unemployment rate is too high, people are still hurting in housing but I see that we’re starting to rise up.”
Turning to foreign policy, Powell said he saw “the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid. And so, I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on.”
“…didn’t get us into any new wars…”?
Does Libya not count as a war because it was illegally run, or was Gen. Powell asleep while Obama led that war from behind? The Obama campaign’s failure to assist the assaulted consulate in Benghazi, followed by a campaign of lies covering up the fact that it was a terrorist attack…? Not important to Powell, evidently.
How about the fact that most of the American casualties in Afghanistan have occurred on Obama’s watch? Or the fact that Obama is now presiding over the most dangerous potential military cuts in a century?
Powell notes nothing about losing Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood, nothing about Obama’s lack of leadership against Iran and North Korea, and nothing about Russia, Poland, missile defense, or the classification of the Ft. Hood terrorist attack as “workplace violence,” a political move that deprives the victims of medals and benefits.
That last is especially damning, of an officer who has seen combat and who once led the war on terrorism. Putting politics ahead of the troops and ahead of the truth permanently tarnishes Powell’s stars.
Colin Powell’s endorsement isn’t likely to move many votes, but it’s a sad denouement on what was a historic American life.
More: Sen. John McCain rips Powell.
“General Powell, you disappoint us and you have harmed your legacy even further by defending what is clearly the most feckless foreign policy in my lifetime,” McCain said Thursday on the Kilmeade and Friends radio program.
Powell cited Obama’s foreign policy as one of the reasons for his endorsement. The retired four-star general said he agreed with Obama’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq, essentially ending the conflict that began during Powell’s tenure in the Bush administration, and argued that Obama had kept the U.S. safe from another terrorist attack.
As long as you don’t count Little Rock, Ft. Hood and Benghazi — and now, Tunisia — sure, we haven’t been attacked.
It’s remarkable how far Powell has moved over the past decade or so. At one time he projected himself as a solid center-right Republican. Had he run against Bill Clinton in 1996, he probably would have won, sparing the nation the four terrible years of Clinton’s second term and putting the “first black president” storyline to bed well ahead of Obama’s rise. Powell could therefore have saved America from two extremely divisive periods and one disastrous presidency. But he chose not to run, and ever since, has shifted farther and farther to the left. Now he fails even to defend the troops against Obama’s politically correct, terror-denialist regime.
It’s a sad thing to see.
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