New at Reason

Tim Cavanaugh | January 19, 2005

Brian Doherty bids good riddance to Foggy Bottom's forgotten man.

Comments

|1.19.05 @ 6:14PM|#

While Powell hasn't covered himself in glory, the ballooning debt reference seems a bit unfair, given that the Secretary of State has almost zilch to do with the budget.

CodeMonkeySteve|1.19.05 @ 6:23PM|#

Powell's legacy seems to be only to show his replacement as nothing more than a Token. That, and as final clinching proof that no politician is intelligent, principled, or experienced enough to withstand the whims of a sufficiently heavy-handed administration.

Warren|1.19.05 @ 6:24PM|#

Brian,
Outstanding article! Dead right on all counts. Powell is the member of the administration destined for the lowest level of hell. Others may be purer embodiments of evil, but Powell was the one we were counting on as the voice of reason, and he betrayed us.

Ayn_Randian|1.19.05 @ 7:26PM|#

You know, like him or not, I can't believe that for literary style Doherty would sink to blaming the man for a weak dollar and ballooning deficit...good Lord, what a piece of chicanery, Brian. Maybe you can blame the tsunami on him too.

Brian Doherty|1.19.05 @ 7:29PM|#

I did not blame him for a weak dollar or a ballooning deficit--I explained the context in which good diplomacy will be ever-more-vital for an America that won't be able to bully or buy its way out of all its troubles.

Tim Cavanaugh|1.19.05 @ 8:27PM|#

The phrasing may have caused some confusion for which, as editor, I take full responsibility. The passage reads:

Still, where has it left the country he served? With our dollar weak, our debt ballooning, and our armed forces overextended, diplomacy and an ability to win the aid and even sometimes the affection of the rest of world will be necessary for the U.S. to maintain itself...

The first sentence is rhetorical, but a skimming or careless reader might assume that the second sentence (or actually just the first clause of the second sentence) is a response to that question. That is not the case, and as Brian says, the article does not imply that Powell had any responsibility for the ballooning debt (though, after listening to Condoleezza Rice get grilled on everything from trade deficits to pirated software over the last two days, I'm not sure there's anything that isn't the responsibility of the SoS).

|1.19.05 @ 9:37PM|#

This makes me proud to say I took Powell to task back when he was just the Dude head of the military.
I couldn't abide his opposition to gays in his military.

|1.19.05 @ 9:44PM|#

All day long today I've been in a harrass-an-uppity-nigga mood.
Were Anita Hill and Condi Rice twins separated at birth?

|1.19.05 @ 9:46PM|#

I think the tsunami really is his fault.

|1.20.05 @ 7:50AM|#

We're all doomed.

|1.20.05 @ 9:48AM|#

I don't think that charge that Powell lacked diplomatic skills sticks. I have trouble blaming Powell for the fact that Mexico and Chile didn't sign onto the war - the best diplomat in the world couldn't have put lipstick on that pig.

But ultimately, what really matters is that he decided that being a good soldier to his boss was more important than beign a good servant to the public, and we're worse off it.

|1.20.05 @ 10:31AM|#

yeah Joe, i'm saddened that he abandoned the course of truth and "took one for the team", but his military background/experience probably had some lingering influence, maybe.

IMO: The war is/has/was and will be about OIL, spreading democracy being a condiment so to speak.
It would have been simpler to tell the American public that Saddam's continued presence threatens the flow of "Black Gold" and "America's got to do a jack move on him"?. Trust me, had the dialogue been framed around that issue, this "yellow(oh wait, blue) dog" would have enthusiastically went hunting.

Misrepresenting the facts, when the truth would have sufficed just troubles me.

"Power corrupts..." and you guys know the rest of that line.

|1.20.05 @ 2:43PM|#

Jeb's running mate in 2008? Please say it ain't so. I have suffered through 6+ years of Jeb's governorship already, and if you all think that W. is hostile to disagreement, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Jesus, I need a drink...