This should come as no surprise:
Secretary of State Colin Powell is exhausted, frustrated, and bitter, uncomfortable with President George W. Bush’s agenda, and fatigued from his battles with the Pentagon, reports GQ magazine writer-at-large Wil S. Hylton in the June 2004 issue of GQ magazine. Hylton’s exclusive article, “Casualty of War,” in which he talks with Powell and his closest friends and colleagues openly and on the record, is available online at http://www.gq.com.
Highlights from the article include:
Powell’s chief of staff, Larry Wilkerson, on whether Powell will return for a second term: “He’s tired. Mentally and physically. And if the president were to ask him to stay on — if the president is re-elected and the president were to ask him to stay on, he might for a transitional period, but I don’t think he’d want to do another four years.”
You also have to figure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is more than ready for a more-than-due retirement. With Rummy and Powell both gone, a Bush II.5 Administration would be left with two big holes to fill.
My first pick for Sec State — assuming she isn’t Vice President — would be Condi Rice. But she may lack the international cred for the job. And since I’m too tired to weigh all the pros and cons myself at this hour, I’m assigning readers the task of doing so.
Click on the Drinks, and appoint your ideal Bush II.5 SecDef and SecState.
Who knows — maybe the White House will listen.
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