Gen. Colin Powell on the Obama Moment

Monday night, we kicked off our 5th season on PBS with an exclusive conversation with Gen. Colin Powell. I was eager to ask the former Secretary of State about the early campaign success of Barack Obama, especially given Gen. Powell's own flirtations several years ago with a possible historic presidential bid.

The full interview airs Monday night.

Comments

[CarolinaDem]

Who cares, Tavis!? This 'man' sucked the Republican extremities entirely for the sake of something ugly in his shared fantasies about Democrats, and has not done the one thing that needs to be done: to declare that any political party that unites to make the country go to war by mistake, the most charitable way to describe it, is a political party which is disgraced and absolutely must be ruled out of executive power for at least a term. He should say this. Colin powell's failure to say this makes him unworthy of comment. Sorry. I was there with Jackson, Young and King's people in '65 and I am disgusted with this man.

[mjjcpa]

Powell should have entered politics. He has 10 times the resume of Obama, even though he was an average general ( a great thing), and a poor secretary of state.

[NOSMAVAN]

A few examples of our "free" press:
1) Britney Spears gets carted off to the hospital in a drunken stooper, and it makes the front page;
On the other hand, Iraq launches it's first oil tanker in 27 years - built in China, paid for with American money and soldiers' blood, and
this gets buried on page 23 of the same newspaper.

2) Less than one quarter of one percent of our population gets to decide who ends up being the Democratic and Republican nominee - by deciding who gets eliminated from the running between now and the respective conventions.

The media is too busy covering this circus, rather than try to enlighten the viewing public (there's evidently no reading going on anymore in the U.S., so we won't even go there)

Long live the free press - long live our phony democracy.

The owners of the mass media - big business - are laughing all the way to the bank; we the American people will drag our sorry asses to the edge of the volcano, where they will be waiting to shove us in.

[nonbeliever]

I can't believe that anyone would have Colin Powell support them. I believe Colin just like I believe Bush....minus zero.
Hillary won't get my vote because of her Iraq vote. Obama won't get mt vote if he lets powell into the conversation.If Obama is for all the people he will forgo Powell because he lied to us. I don't feel good at all about Powell talking about how great Obama would be for Blacks.Obama will be great for Blacks and whites but not because a neo-liar says it is so.

[Dalicious]

I think you all are missing the point about Powell. His credibility with you is unimportant, because he is not trying to convince you of anything. He is simply relating his take on Obama's candidacy and how important it is for black Americans. Sure, he's made mistakes, but that does not lessen the significance of his excitement. We all know he never ran for President because he said he lacked "fire in the belly", which was a very self-honest thing to realize; Fred Thompson should be so smart. This and his political past makes his excitement for Obama all the more interesting, and all the more telling.

[KeysDan]

Senator Obama should distance himself from the disgraced Colin Powell as fast and far as possible. Mr. Obama rose so quickly on the national scene owing, in large measure, to his opposition to the "dumb war" in Iraq. Moreover, he has moved ahead of Senator Clinton (capitalizing on her vote for the 2002 Iraq resolution) on the basis of his good judgment trumping national experience. The deceitful UN performance of Colin Powell (who for some reason was still respected by many) sold many skeptics of the Bush/Cheney cause for war; many wondered why he stayed on as an ineffective Secretary of State, only to be humiliated over and over again, by Rummy, Wolfie, Condi and Dick. But, his continued presence assured his son Michael, of his postion at the FCC and a subsequent lucrative career. And, he liked the job too much. General Powell also never paid for his role in the Iran/Contra affair--particularly his congressional testimony on behalf of his boss, the pardoned felon, Sec of Defense Casper Weinberger. The special prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, let him off the hook. His insubordination to President Clinton regarding the executive order to permit gays to serve in the military should have resulted in a stint at Leavenworth. After all, he publically argued, as Chair of the JCS, against implementation, including a speech to Annapolis graduates to resist. Senator Obama, continue to look forward and not to the sad past that is exemplified by Colin Powell.

[darthmaul]

I have to stand corrected, about my previous, albeit lukewarm defense of Collin Powell. I think some of the other people that have left comments are more knowledgeable about the historical record of WMD, the UN, and Powell's involvement. Even if he was fed false intell, Powell is old enough and experienced enough to get accurate information. A real statesman-soldier, George Marshall would not have made this mistake

[LiberalMathProfessor]

What could Gen. Powell do in his lifetime to rehabilitate himself? Nothing, I am sure, except if he were to serve prison time along with Bush, Cheney, Rice, Perle, Wolfowitz, et al., after having given a full confession. We need for a Lucifer to emerge from the current administration, to tell all and set the occasion for indictments galore. Too bad that Gen. Powell aligned himself with the right-wingers, his first big mistake; he could have known better, and by now may have already served a term or two in the White House as our most recent Democratic President. He has the smarts and experience, but no longer the reputation and our trust, because of his second big mistake, lying to us so that Bush&Co could start the war to secure the 2004 elections and, supposedly get that oil at cost.

[NOSMAVAN]

People like Rudy Giuliani fascinate me. Rather than finding a rock and crawling under it, as most people with their number of skeletons in the closet would do, people like Rudy go running for high profile offices. What are they thinking? That people are stupid? Maybe they do.(and they may be right, judging from the last two elections).
Are these guys suffering from amnesia, or are they just incredibly arrogant?

[SeanGardner]

I agree with Powell. This is a very important moment in American Politics, and a great moment for this country.

Not just because an African-American is seriously contending for the presidency, but because Barack is doing it in a largely unconventional way: with young people, middle aged disaffected voters, and a range of voters from Democratic, Republican, and Independent circles.

America is witnessing an African-American run a campaign that is not predicated on "identity politics", but on the politics of inclusion. And when you have a 10 year plus record as a politician of building political coalitions with Republicans and Independents, you can easily begin the process of uniting the country around issues that affect us all.

Barack Obama is doing exactly what he told NEWSWEEK in 2004, that he would continue to do as a U.S. Senator: being "PURPLE", not simply "BLUE". He wanted an existence where he could continue to have the BLUE STATE credentials...AND...RED STATE credibility.

BLUE STATE credentials and RED STATE credibility means you win the "PURPLE" states. And what are the "PURPLE" states? They are quasi-Red states like IOWA, OHIO, and VIRGINIA, and quasi-Blue states like New Hampshire, Nevada, and Colorado. These are all "PURPLE" states that he can easily win.

And, as Jonathon Alter of NEWSWEEK reported two weeks ago, Barack would likely turn some RED states BLUE in the South, because the commanding black populations (and other racial minorities) in states like Alabama, Mississippi, Lousiana, and South Carolina would show out in numbers never before seen in this country.

Colin Powell is right. This is a unique and impressive moment in contemporary politics.

And besides, when your name is Barack Obama, and you are leading ALL presidential candidates in both fundraising and political endorsements from the RUBY RED state of IDAHO(http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=86884&cat=Politics+News&more=%2Fpolitics%2F), you know you're doing something right!

Obama baby!!!!

[AgathaX]

Wrong Tavis. Colin Powell was never Barack Obama and could not have done what Obama is doing now. Powell was much more of a Wesley Clark. Someone who, if he had run for president, would have been doing it, not because he had any burning personal motivation but because he was seduced into it by people who sold him on the idea. Fred Thompson is another comparative.

The one way Powell may be comparable to Obama is in self-knowledge. In Powell's case, however, self knowledge guided him away from a presidential run.

[Researchguy66]

I can still see in my head Powell delivering lies in our name to the United Nations. So, if we already know what it is, why do we bother with anything that comes out of Bush's Colin?

[deminmo]

If Colin Powell is a "traitor" then what is
General Petreaus for giving the American
people exactly what Bush and Chaney told him
to?

[dlkincaid]

Tavis - I don't think you want to align yourself with Powell. I for one think about as much for CPowell as I did for those fellow tribesmen sold our people into slavery. It is about the same to me and I haven't forgiven them as yet. I have lost all respect for Tom Joyner and his gang also, but hopefully you will not join this band wagon. It is quite obvious what is happening. The same thing that happened to us after they killed King and Malcolm.

[simontherm]

Colin lied, soldiers died.

He'll probably come out with a "come clean" book in another couple of years and walk away with 10mil.

NOW LET'S DO SOMETHING SO THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN

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