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Will Colin Powell Remain AWOL?

By Jack M. Balkin

[UPDATE: Obviously, what follows is now completely irrelevant, given Powell's extremely strong endorsement of Obama. I am obviously delighted. Had I not already "published" this posting, I would certainly simply hit the delete key for the last sentence. ]

When the history of the Bush Administration is being written, surely Colin Powell will play a key role in explaining why so many people, in the early days, believed that Bush would recapitulate his Texas experience by governing as a right-of-center moderate; moreover, if any one person explains why Congress voted Bush a blank check in Iraq, it is Colin Powell, who vouched for the wmd-rationale. (A second person is Tony Blair, and a third may well be Tom Friedman.) It turns out, of course, that Powell was basically a cipher within the Administration, and he was unceremoniously drummed out of office to make way for the more dependable Bush-can-do-no-wrong Condoleeza Rice (who, in fairness, has been a voice for moderation against the mad dogs in the Vice President's retinue).

So one might expect Powell to feel that he has some duty to the country to weigh in on the choice for the presidency. Does he really want a warmonger like John McCain, committed to some completely elusive and unarticulated notion of "victory" in Iraq and to refusing to negotiate with anyone he deems unsuitable? And does the former head of the Joint Chiefs believe that Sarah Palin is remotely equipped to be Commander-in-Chief should anything happen to the 72-year-old cancer survivor who refuses to allow genuine scrutiny of his medical records?

A friend of mine who writes for the Washington Post said that the key to understanding Powell is his reverence for George Marshall, who had an old-fashioned sense of complete loyalty to his civilian superiors. That's why, my friend said, it was unthinkable that Powell would publicly break with Bush. Recall that Marshall told Truman he would, if he voted (and I believe that Marshall didn't even vote), vote against him because of his recognition of Israel, but that didn't stop him from continuing as Secretary of State and serving Truman with the utmost loyalty.

But Powell has no such demands on him now. If he is the dedicated public servant almost all of us believe him to be, whether we agree or disagree (as on gays in the military) with him in all respects, he has a duty to tell us which of the two he believes is better fit to serve as President. Obviously, I suspect--and certainly hope--that his choice is Obama (and Biden). I would be both surprised and disappointed if he were to endorse McCain (and Palin). But the main point still stands: Why has maintained such silence in what is non-hyerbolically the most important presidential election in the lifetime of anyone younger than 76? Does he believe that retired generals must take a permanent vow of silence re politics? If so, then he should be criticizing the significant number of former military officers who have endorsed either Obama or McCain, since the issue of what role the military (and former military) should play in the polity is an extremely important one. He permanently demeaned his reputation by making a speech before the UN that contained material about which he was justifiably suspicious. He demeans himself now by refusing to speak and letting "Joe the Plumber" (not to mention the anti-urban bigotry of Sarah Palin) dominate the airwaves.

Full post as published by Balkinization on October 19, 2008 (boomark / email).