I feel much, much better. Tired as ever, but better. Sometimes I have to just take a step back and re-read some of my own words. And yes Miss Ted Turner (you know who you are), I’ve done something about my heels.:-) They don’t look like I’ve been stomping flour anymore.
One thing I did that brought my spirits up was take a weekend “djane” course at Rubinia Djanes in Basel. It’s run by DJane Mithras Leuenberger. She’s got a good thing going. It’s basically a dj-workshop / community center for young (and not-so-young) women to work on their “skillz” while at the same time experience a positive, strong, female environment.
Ray Charles passed. That hurt. As someone wrote in the comments under my last post, Charles’ death hurt me more than Reagan’s. “What’d I Say” was one of the first 45s I remember snatching from my parents as a child and playing it over and over and over and over and over. I loved the B side.
On another, more political note, I’ve been thinking (uh oh). Colin Powell has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I have no idea why. For some reason, my brain went back to when Harry Belafonte went the hell off made his opinion known about Powell. To refresh your memory, the Day O Dude basically called Powell a “house slave”.
At first, I thought Belafonte was being hard on Powell. But now that I’ve started reading The Path to War in the May 2004 edition of Vanity Fair, not only do I think Harry may have been on point, I also believe there’s something else going on between Powell and the Bush administration. The article basically paints Powell as not only favoring an international approach to dealing with Hussein, but being skittish about the “evidence” of WMDs (even though he allowed himself to be hung out to dry in front of the UN). I haven’t finished the article because it’s a freaking opus. I plan on doing so though.
In any case, back to my thoughts on Powell. So, it seems that Powell wasn’t himself convinced of the evidence. It also seems that Powell just doesn’t “jive” with the administration. Think about it. He doesn’t fit. It has nothing to do with race or anything like that. It has everything to do with Powell’s personality. I can neither put my finger on it nor put my thoughts on this exact point into words, but something ain’t right between Powell and the Bush neocons.
Which brings me to this question: Why is Powell still hanging out with these dudes? Why is he still going along with the plan? Is he really a “house slave” as Belafonte suggested? On the one hand, yeah. Powell seems to be playing that role. On the other, I believe Powell was put in that role due to a particular reason.
He’s being blackmailed.
Okay, I know you’re laughing at my theory…but think about it. What does Powell have to gain by sticking around with this administration? Not much. As a matter of fact, his reputation has been sullied by hooking up with these folks. In his years before Bush the Second, he had a different…here I go again…vibe. But something changed.
Here’s what I think. Bush (or maybe Cheney) has something on Powell. It may not even be big in the grand scheme of things, but remember when Powell freaked when it was reported that his wife Alma had been treated for depression (see box “Coming out of a different kind”)? Some say that this invasion of his privacy was the reason for him not running.
So, Powell is pretty private, or as private as a well known general can be. He’s protective of his family and seems to be very sensitive when it comes to things that *may* be considered controversial. If this is the case, why did he put himself in this position with Bush the Second?
Money? Nope. He has that.
Fame? Nope, with a best selling book and a previously shiny, world-wide reputation, he didn’t need that either.
Mark my words. It may take five, ten, or 15 years, maybe even longer…but I truly believe George W. and Dick have Powell by the gonads. And they’re holding on really tight.
Again, these are just my uneducated thoughts. Add CHF 5.00 to them and you *may* get a good cup of coffee in downtown Z¸rich.
Comments (5)
Just finished reading “Bush at War” by Bob Woodward, the history from just before 9/11 through Afghanistan (I did manage the Vanity Fair article BTW-which is much more informative than this entire book) . From what is written in this book, and probably more accurately what is NOT written, it seems Colin Powell is a dedicated civil servant who has no repor with Bush but still is committed to doing his job-better ‘inside’ rather than ‘outside’ but most certainly not from the top. His wife also said (as quoted in the book) she would leave him if he ran for president. From the book-Bush was calling the shots ‘from the hip’ and not really based on a lot of hard facts or the opinions of experts-Powell being on of them.
@Ashley: Okay, so Powell is a dedicated civil servant, but that still doesn’t explain why he’s so loyal to this administration. Dedication only goes so far.
Forget about Bob Woodward!
He still might be famous because of Watergate, however, he changed into a cup-bearer of the mighty and powerful years ago. Don’t waste your money for his political fiction!
You have to remember that Powell is career military. He is a loyal soldier, through and through. He’s not going to go against his Commander in Chief, even though said C-in-C is, as Ron Weasley might put it, a brainless git.
If everybody in the military got out when they disagreed with their superior officers, we wouldn’t have a military.
Unfortunately, by being such a loyal soldier, Powell’s going to shoulder some (but not a lot…he’s Teflon; people still love him) of the blame for the mess that is Iraq/foreign relations in general. I would have had a helluva lot more respect for him if he’d quit before they went to war.
LLBellatrix: I understand about being loyal…but again, where is the stopping point? Where is the line? I understand he’s following orders, but there has to be a breaking point somewhere. That’s what’s unclear to me. Can the military brainwash someone as intelligent as Powell so that he follows that “git” off a cliff?
When is a person being loyal and when is a person being blind? Or naive? Or (shudder) a “house slave”? According to the Vanity Fair article, Powell knew (and knows) that the premise of this entire war was built on sand. You mean to tell me he is so loyal that he’s willing to take the fall for an administration that really doesn’t even see him as part of the club? I remember reading an article either in Newsweek or Time referring to how Powell was sort of the odd-man-out.