From President Bush's White House team, Colin Powell hears ... nothing

Colin L. Powell, the former mud soldier, hurled his political grenade in defense of Barack Obama, but the collateral damage hit the Bush White House.

To be sure, he was opting for Obama, but the undercurrent of his message was a strong rejection of the direction the Republican Party -- and the nation -- have taken under President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. We won't even get into his quiet dis of Sarah Palin.

And 24 hours after President Bush's former secretary of State said he would vote for the Democratic presidential nominee, he has been given a cold shoulder, so to speak, from the Bushies.

"He's not heard anything from the White House types," said a close friend who spoke with Powell before and after his appearance on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

On the other hand, he's heard from just about everyone else, this Powell friend said, and response has been "overwhelmingly positive."

The friend added:

He feels very good about what he said yesterday. He's very comfortable with it.

The White House non-reaction, so far, is not too surprising when you consider what Powell was saying in this mildly worded but devastating sentence from Sunday's TV performance: "I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years."

Or the rejection of the impact of the recent Bush years when he said that the next president would have to "fix the reputation that we've left with the rest of the world."

And when did the U.S. standing turn sour? As Countdown to Crawford reported Saturday, the polls abroad are pretty striking in the rejection of U.S. policy under Bush.

Come to think of it, considering the efforts of the White House team to maneuver around Powell when he was in office, their response to the distance he is putting between himself and the president may not be that strange. The picture of Bush, Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in 2002 notwithstanding, they really weren't that, well, close.

Characteristically, Powell on Sunday used very forceful, deliberate -- but polite and toned-down -- language, choosing a course that would leave little room for anyone to pick it apart and suggest he was in any way hedging his bets.

But we know, from personal experience, that although adept at using nuanced language, he can make his point strongly, with no room for doubt, when he so chooses.

The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Bush 41 and Bill Clinton has been a friend of John McCain for a quarter-century, but he decided that friendship could not be the determining factor.

Rather, he wanted to nudge the Republican Party away from its current course -- one that he sees as having turned rightward particularly during the second Bush-Cheney term, which of course would be the period when he had already left the administration.

But in the end, the Powell friend, bursting out in a broad chuckle as he played off McCain's campaign theme of "Country First," said of Powell's decision: "He put America first."

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo credit: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press

Comments

[Stephen]

John Dickenson:
I truly feel sorry for you and other individuals inflicted with unenlightened attitudes such as racial prejudice. Try if you can to crawl out from your 19th century beliefs and embrace the uniqueness in each of us, instead of living in your world filled with such fear and hatred. To heal yourself of these horrible emotional wounds you must first acknowledge that it is you that is racist.

[Jared]

Unlike others, I am not as gracious to Powell. When you are a General, you deserve the respect due your station. When you leave that position to enter politics, all bets are off. If we were to evidence the merit of a political figure’s endorsement by his prior service to our country, McCain would win based solely on his own endorsements.

I don't blame Powell for the arguments that he made to the United Nations and the expense of the American people. I don't think he really understood the implications of his actions. But he is in no position to offer an endorsement of any value to the reasonable voting public.

The reason I say that is this: Either he knew that the evidence was inconclusive on Iraq and WMDs; or, he believed that the evidence was conclusive. If he believed the evidence was inconclusive and argued for starting the never-ending war in Iraq, he was wrong for being a manipulator of the American people. If he believed the evidence was conclusive, he was simply easily manipulated.

Either way, the American people can put little merit in his endorsements. This is just some washed up General turned Politician trying to say, in hindsight, that Obama was right on the war in Iraq. I guess he thinks that Obama might take pity on their similar background to revitalize Powell's nonexistent political future.

Is he being manipulated or being manipulative?

[Jerry Cunningham]

It is funny to me that the Righ-tWing-Nuts that are dissing Colin Powell, quote only parts of his statement. Like, "he is voting for another black man." Read the entire statement, Republi-Cons, he said he is also voting against the direction of the Republican Party, and against an obviously unqualified, Sarah Palin for VP.

Powell was misused and mistreated by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. Now the chickens have come home to roost.

You Neo-Con-Artists have had your turn, now please step aside and give the other side a chance to redeem our nation in the eyes of the world.

[Homer]

Powell, by his reasoning shows himself to be just another racist. How can he say Sarah Palin is not experienced to run for VP when he is endorsing Obama, who has no experience whatsoever for president. It just doesn't make any sense and he is exposed as just another racist.

[Kay Wiskirchen]

I feel if Powell was rigth in expressing his opinion. He is an American and has earned his right to express his opinion.

I do not agree with him on this issue. I know the Obama will take away my right to express myself because of his policies and the friends he has.

Two wrongs do not make it right. Powell will have to answer to the Lord if I am right in my feelings.

[Kay Wiskirchen]

I feel if Powell was rigth in expressing his opinion. He is an American and has earned his right to express his opinion.

I do not agree with him on this issue. I know the Obama will take away my right to express myself because of his policies and the friends he has.

Two wrongs do not make it right. Powell will have to answer to the Lord if I am right in my feelings.

[MKadri]

A person should be judged with what they do and not what they say.
Colin Powell had all the opportunity to stand up against the neo conservatives in the Bush government and not be a puppet in front of the UN assembly when he showed pictures of WMD and mobile labs. It was a pathetic display of pure lies. It felt even worse to see Colin Powell being a puppet in Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rowe’s hands trying to make a case for a war in Iraq. We have let our government waste billions of our hard earned money to advance the neo conservative agenda.
To people who thinks for themselves, these endorsements should mean nothing as we need to make up our own mind on who will lead US out of this crisis.

[Dave]

Colin Powell was and is one of the most respected people in Washington. Anyone who think's he made his choice because he wanted to support a black man is dead wrong.

Powell took a brave stand that will cost him dearly for the rest of his life. He crossed party lines and called out all the people who helped him to get where he is. Why did he do it? Because he wants to see a half-black man in office? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Colin Powell got to where he was because he fought for what he believed in, yet he was loyal to his friends and to his party. In making the decision to support Obama he had to be disloyal ... a very hard thing for a principled man like Powell. Especially a military man for which loyalty is EVERYTHING.

So why did he do it? Why? There is only one answer .. because he DID put Country First, at his own expense.

I applaud his courage and his honor to our country.

[Menace2Vacuity]

The grammar and spelling for all of you (Minghia, Tom & John) hating on Powell is atrocious! That leads me to believe that you are either:

A) Careless (don't check your rhetoric before you spew it)
B) Uneducated (don't have the basic skills to form rational, complete thoughts), or
C) Ignorant (don't know good from bad because you don't bother to inform yourself)

Take some time to check your history. Powell did resign from the Bush calamity and has spoke out against the administration many times (I have seen him do so in person). As for John's comment suggesting racist preference... unless you have proof, suggest you retract. Slinging that sort of mud makes you sound more questionable than Powell.

[VBrown]

I don't care who Powell or anyon else supports. I care about what each candidate stands for, what they want to do to our country. I know people who are NOT voting for Obama Just because he's black. I know more people who ARE voting for Obamah Just because he's black. WHY? We need to look at what he wants to do to our country. Put aside his color, his religion, his political party,the people he associates with, etc. and look at what he wants to do. He wants to raise taxes so that he can increase the size of our government,and that is going to hurt everyone, we will go from a recession to a depression if taxes are raised not to mention the fact that I don't want more government involved in my life! I hear the ad where Obama jokes, "How many plumbers do you know that make $250,000 a year," and people are laughing. I agree you won't find a plumber making this kind of money, but we're not talking about one person, we're talking about the owner of a plumbing business who is going to have overhead expesnses and salaries to pay, etc. when you look at the whole picture,$250,000 is NOT alot of money for a small business. We need businesses to grow and provide jobs, with Obama's proposed tax increase small business will not be able to grow which means less jobs, add the the increase in taxes to that so he can "Spread the wealth" and many small businesses will have to go out of business. How does this make any sense????
I agree that we need change, but if you look at the record, and I mean seriously do the research, you will find that the first 7 1/2 years of Bush's admin. was good, home prices were good, unemployemnt was low, the economy was stong, BUT, in 2006 people wanted "Change" and voted more Democrats into office and look at the "Change" we got! Remember, the president, no matter who he/she is cannot make changes alone, congress has to pass the changes. Do we really want a Democratic president along with the Democtatic congress we already have? I honestly hope that everyone who reads this will do the research, too much is at risk here for anyone to believe what they hear, research it yourself.

[Gene]

I hear alot of people say that if anyone black votes for obama then they are only doing so because he is black. Soooo with this logic, I suppose that those people who are white and vote for McCain are only doing so because he is white? How does that explain the black people who are voting for McCain? or the white people who are voting for Obama? Why cant a black person like Obama because they feel he is the better candidate? The same goes for white people who are voting for McCain. Also, For those of you (John Dickerson) who like to say "that person is only voting for Obama because he is black", sounds like you sir have a little pent up racism yourself. Being as though that is all you could think to say in regards to the story. Also, I wonder how most of you felt when Colin Powell was working for Bush and supported the republican party wholeheatedly...was he a hypocrite then? was he looking for absolution then? or was he simply following what he belived to be true? Finally for the person who said Powell let us go down the wrong path in the war, where does the president, you know the leader of the country, have any responsibility in that decision? Unless you are conceding that Bush, and Cheney are mindless drones who were simply pawns of Colin Powell and didnt know how to analyze the SAME information that Powell had? Thats right they did....and they determined that the war should be in Iraq.

[DVS]

Powell and Obama racists!!?? How the hell do you come up with that!? Usually one has to go to a KKK meeting to find that kind of ignorance. I hate to point it out to you, pal, but these two black men happen to be smarter than you could ever HOPE to be. You're one of those guys who believes everything he reads, too, huh? Idiot. By the way, I'm white. Loser.

[Matt]

I am glad to see so much disdain for Powell's endorsement. Powell and Bush are, at least, equally responsible for Iraq. This is a political move on Powell's part, that, given Obama's response, has seemed to work. Powell acts as if his resignation from Bush's cabinet makes up for his lack of judgment while in it. Powell has blamed Bush for pressuring him into backing the war. What a spineless move. Bush has made errors in judgment throughout his time in office, and is repeatedly lambasted in the media for those errors. Why is that Powell seems to not only get a pass for his errors, but may get rewarded by Obama?

[Confused American]

After reading what some people have said it confuses me? I served in the Army and spent almost 2 years in Iraq so I have a strong feeling of pride and patriotism towards my country. To think I fought for some backwoods idiots who keep saying its b/c he's black infuriates me to no end. Get a life and get educated. Colin Powell could have run for President and probably would be seen in a better light then Obama is now. He is extremely well educated and when he speaks people listen. We know there's substance behind his words. His endorsement is huge, he's not just some black guy voting for a black guy b/c he's black.

Think for yourself and before we start on this whole race thing why don't you sit back and ask yourself what have I done for my own country? What could I do instead of bitch and complain? Is there somehow I might be able to help someone else out?

[Robert]

I am voting for Obama, but like others here have said (on both the left and right), he lost credibility with me when he shilled for Bush and took the people and the nation down this miserable path to war. That's the kind of blind loyalty I (and the nation) can do without.

[reckless2k2]

I love how the article tries to paint the Bush Administration as bad for not saying something to Powell. No matter what they do is wrong. C'mon, Powell turned his back on his party. The other posts here got it right that Powell was a major player in the game yet Bush took all the blame. The buck stopped with him when if it were a different administration I'm sure Powell would've been hung out. He turned his back on his party. He betrayed his friends. How do you expect them to react? With glee?

His endorsement is damaging as much as it is distressing. Just picking apart his comments on Meet the Press makes you wonder what he's thinking. There isn't much sound judgment when he says that Obama is good but Palin is bad. Again, they are playing word games. How has this become a race between Obama and Palin? And if it were, she's got more executive experience. Governors win Presidential races. It's rare that Senators do. Duh. Not to mention Senators with so little experience even being a Senator. C'mon.

[R]

Why is it when someone makes a well thought out, educated decision many Republicans start to defile their character? Colin Powell is a distinguised leader and made his reasons clear as to why he has decided to vote for and endorse Obama. A decision based on thought. Not name-calling, racism, or petty lies. Is the Republican party so desparate they resort to this disgusting tactics. Obama rises above the muck because he actually cares and wants to bring Everyone a better future. Colin Powell opened his eyes. I hope others can too.

[JF]

John Dickenson,

If you wanted to see a racist, look in the mirror.

[Menace2Vacuity]

The grammar and spelling for all of you (Minghia, Tom & John) hating on Powell is atrocious! That leads me to believe that you are either:

A) Careless (don't check your rhetoric before you spew it)
B) Uneducated (don't have the basic skills to form rational, complete thoughts), or
C) Ignorant (don't know good from bad because you don't bother to inform yourself)

Take some time to check your history. Powell did resign from the Bush calamity and has spoke out against the administration many times (I have seen him do so in person). As for John's comment suggesting racist preference... unless you have proof, suggest you retract. Slinging that sort of mud makes you sound more questionable than Powell.

[Tactical]

Man, you Repugnicans sure sound shrill when you accuse Colin Powell of being a racist. You sound very much like racists, attributing every decision to race and race alone. Let's face it- the Bush/Republican foreign policy of the past 8 years has been a nearly complete failure. So has their economic policy. I laugh until I cry when I hear the faithful few (read: idiots) try and pawn the financial crisis off on Fannie, Freddie, and the Democrats. Over 80% of the bad paper was issued, backed, and bought (over and over again, Ponzi scheme style) by the completely private investment banks. They put political pressure on Fannie/Freddie to buy up some of the bad paper or those institutions might not have fared so badly. You guys are a sad joke, you're party is dying, get a grip and grasp for a clue.

[Kathryn S. O'Brien]

For anyone watching and listening throughout the Bush years you could see Gen. Powell was getting uncomfortable with the direction Bush was going.
As a military man who knows his place under a President, he would not bad mouth Bush. Instead, he resigned. Didn't that tell you something? Or did you think he just had more important things to do? I remember thinking after the WMD debacle that Powell knew he had also been hoodwinked by Bush.

[Menace2Vacuity]

The grammar and spelling for all of you (Minghia, Tom & John) hating on Powell is atrocious! That leads me to believe that you are either:

A) Careless (don't check your rhetoric before you spew it)
B) Uneducated (don't have the basic skills to form rational, complete thoughts), or
C) Ignorant (don't know good from bad because you don't bother to inform yourself)

Take some time to check your history. Powell did resign from the Bush calamity and has spoke out against the administration many times (I have seen him do so in person). As for John's comment suggesting racist preference... unless you have proof, suggest you retract. Slinging that sort of mud makes you sound more questionable than Powell.

[Steve]

He was snubbed by the Whitehouse years ago, and he's getting even now. Plus, he's black.

Why does General Colin Powell have to be a racist because he votes for another black man, White mens being voting for each other since elections began.

[anonymoose]

I'm sad to see typical Neo-Stalinist tactics on display here. If you can't argue the logic of a man's position, attack the man. The communist Josef Stalin was expert at using these tactics, and millions died under his brutal regime. Many of you so-called conservatives decry Obama for his perceived "socialism"--and many never realize that they are engaged in some of the most time-honored socialist tactics of all: smear the character of the man who disagrees with you. Shout loudly and shout down the dissent. And when all else fails, lie and call it the truth until the lie is believed.

You neo-socialists are all alike. You mean our country nothing but harm. Go back to Stalingrad where you came from, Comrade Repulbicans. You are not welcome in a free America.