In siding with Obama, who from the start was an opponent of Iraq, he seemed to be making a clear break with the more hawkish elements of the Republican Party and signaling an effort to reshape how he is judged on the war.
Perhaps, Powell is still angry about the truth of how he let himself be used by Bush, as Tom Brokaw reminded him Sunday on “Press the Meat”:
Brokaw read aloud a passage from Bob Woodward’s most recent book, “The War Within,” that quoted former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a Republican, as saying that Powell was “the one guy who could have perhaps prevented” the war from happening.
Powell, who friends say remains angry about his time in the Bush administration, briskly responded that “it was not a correct assessment by anybody that my statements or my leaving the administration would have stopped it.”
Bullshit. If you had threatened to resign, and been prepared to go through with it, it might have made a difference indeed. At the least, it would have knocked out British support for the war; Blair would have lost a division within his own party on the issue.
Also, if this were just about a Powell endorsement, it might have come sooner.
Or are you, like the MSLBs, dumb enough to believe Obama was the only one who wanted the endorsement delayed for maximum impact?
No comments:
Post a Comment