When it Comes to Colin Powell, What is Bill Kristol Up To?

General Colin Powell has shrugged off good efforts by the Obama campaign to nudge his support into the open -- but while it can be understood that Obama's agents would try to sign Powell up, what does Bill Kristol have in mind stating that he expects Powell to tilt towards Obama?

Earlier today, Huffington Post's Seth Colter Walls quoted former national security advisor and CSIS Trustee Zbigniew Brzezinski saying that he expected Colin Powell to endorse Obama. Bill Kristol went a step further and said that he also expects the former Secretary of State to show up in Denver at the Democratic National Convention.

When I queried General Powell's office today, I received this statement from his office:

I am not attending any conventions and I have not decided who I am going to vote for. I have no idea why Bill Kristol started this rumor chain

Others received the same message.

So, what is Bill Kristol up to?

I have a hunch -- but it's completely speculative.

Since Steve Schmidt was given the operative reins of the McCain campaign, Schmidt has been pushing hard for flamboyant, dramatic showdowns to contrast McCain from Obama. He helped orchestrate the ongoing political theater on oil drilling. And Schmidt and his team have grabbed the Russia-Georgia conflict and tried to ratchet higher US-Russian tension rather than stand down, again to differentiate the McCain camp from what they hope is perceived as a more dovish Obama position.

My hunch is that Bill Kristol and friends don't want interest-calculating negotiators and balanced, sensible, pragmatic realists around McCain. They are perhaps using the Russia conflict to purge their foreign policy team of those who are not neocon or neocon-friendly -- and by trying to "export Colin Powell to Obama," Kristol is really going after his close friend and ally Richard Armitage while at the same time attacking General Powell's utility to Obama.

And who is helping Steve Schmidt and Bill Kristol orchestrate this purge and exploit this European crisis? I think Colin Powell's old White House nemesis -- Karl Rove.

Just a hunch -- but McCain's team is working on achieving national security clarity of the neoconservative kind.

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

Comments

[krocklin]

How do people like Bush and McCain get into the roles they hold? And Kristol is a total nooge (isn't that Yiddish?); how did he too ever get into a position of such influence"
Is this just a reflection of the doltish mental level of the public, or is it just the power of the Rich and the Oligarchs?

[SCG2]

Interesting take on this. Whatever the case, Kristol is reckless with a track record of being tragically wrong.

[DieHardObamaSupporter]

This saddens me of how they used him to sell their lie. Just think if he hadn't been their water boy, he may have been making history along the same path as O.

[zerosontheloose]

Obama shold make it clear that he neither needs nor wants Powell's endorsement. While in office Powell lied repeatedly in support of the Iraq invasion. He is a man of zero credibility and less integrity.

[mivogo]

I think you're overanalyzing. I think Kristol wants the perception out there to be "Ah, Powell didn't show up for Obama after all!"
The same as saying in the primaries, I expect my opponent to win easily in a particular state--then when he wins modestly, claim it as a victory.

[realpolitic]

"Just a hunch -- but McCain's team is working on achieving national security clarity of the neoconservative kind." Yes, the neoconservative kind of national security is all-out warfare. The problem with the neoconservative vision, one of many, is that there is always another country to fight. Our attack on Iraq now is not a victory to neocons unless we attack Iran, as well. There is always another enemy on the horizon.

[joefazio]

Powell was one of the few people that could have stopped
the counterfit invasion. Had he some real guts, he could have
resigned rather than help lead this country into a war
that has killed and maimed thousands and sent this
country into near financial ruin.

He now has a chance to redeem himself by supporting
Obama for president.

It is time for Powell to step up to the plate, take a deep
breath...AND DO THE RIGHT THING!

[Misante]

General Powell is no fool and is not someone to be played with. Kristol better know what he's doing before he goes digging in the Powell backyard.

[DavieB36]

Obama/Powell '08?

[dawn2dusk]

no

[eden4barack08]

No way! Please?

[lovethesinner]

Neo Conclarity: the name of a character in a Tom Clancy novel?

[SamEllison]

You lost me on the Armitage thing, please explain?
Tiny came out looking like a butt-kisser in "Bush's War" (Frontline).
Kristol wants Powell to go for Obama so he can play the race card.

[ApolloniaCreed]

Exactly...

[glesslib]

That was my first thought. Of course, I don't have the carefully nuanced thoughts of a Bill Kristol, but that would still be my guess..... that and the fact that he just loves to listen to his own voice.

[Skwege]

Out of all of the Bushies, Powell is probably the most redeemable. He still holds some credibility with the General Public. If he were to come out and just show regret and then squeal on his former handlers, all would be forgiven as far as I am concerned.

Won't happen though.

[Solange]

Kristol is trying to play the race card. If Powell endorses Obama, Kristol and his ilk will say it is because both Obama and Powell are black. That would neutralize the positive impact of Powell's support--and anger white voters who are still on the fence by making them think this is an election based on race. In other words, it would be an attempt to make Obama seem like the candidate of black America rather than the Democratic candidate of all Americans. Ironically, the neocons think only other neocons are true Americans--to them 99 percent of the American population are minorities.
Everyone who isn't a neocon or an arch conversative is "other" as far as Kristol and his colleagues are concerned.

[Jurisgator]

Many seek to dismiss Kristol as "not that smart" but that doesn't mean he isn't influential. His "ideas" don't need to be "smart" because they've been given action and turned into policy by the Bush Administration. Bottom Line: Progressives CANNOT dismiss Kristol and other neocons as dumb blowhards but rather need to treat them as an enemy to America's very ideals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

[flipbiscut24]

Jurisgator,
Excellent post.
This part especially rings true:
"Progressives CANNOT dismiss Kristol and other neocons as dumb blowhards but rather need to treat them as an enemy to America's very ideals."

[magen]

Yup.

[LondonTownNY]

I completely agree with the sentiments expressed above. Kristol is trying to marginalize Republicanss of significance who may ultimately endorse Obama or may not by putting out there that Powell is an Obama supporter. So who wins?

If Powell stays neutrail and does not endorse Obama: it looks like Obama's supporters are hedging their bets or hesitant about the candidate.

If Powell does endorse Obama: then Kristol and the Neocons can spin it as race politics and undermine Powell's credibility and the weight of the endorsement.

Kristol as the architect of the Neocon movement in America knows exactly what he is doing and that is to undermine Powell's stature.

[eden4barack08]

Has this country forgotten that Powell was one of the Bushies? Whether he was used or not, he went along. He's the one who rendered credibility to the Bush/Cheney war agenda. When he spoke the United Nations listened, and many were fooled. The fact that he had tried to dissuade Bush from going to war, says that he was aware it was all a farce. So he resigns seven years after being with the Administration? Is this ALL one has to do for redemption? Resign after all the damage's been done? How can that be good enough when it cost us 4100+ soldiers, hundred thousands of Iraqis, trillions of dollars that have shattered our economy, high gas prices, just to name a few?
So, tell me again, if you will, why is this man's endorsement important? Why is he still relevant at all?

[GayGrandpa]

It is not completely out of the question that Powell would be Obama's choice for VP...now you might not like that but many Americans including a lot of Republicans would...so let's not completely damn Powell especially if there is a chance and there is that Obama will give him a chance to redeem himself!

[eden4barack08]

IMO, Powell as VP is completely out of the question, that is if everything I've learned about Obama and his campaign 'till now serves me right.