by flory
Matt Y. is of the opinion that it was a journey of disillusionment that let to the Powell endorsement of Obama:
but that years-long period of disillusionment is, itself, an important story that culminates in the Obama endorsement.
Calling it a journey of "disillusionment" is to be overly kind, to say the least. In reality, it was more a journey of thwarted ambition. When Powell stood up before the UN to give his dog and pony show he was the Village golden boy. He'd presided over the successful and enormously popular Gulf War I. He'd written a best selling memoir. He was the first black Secretary of State. He had made a fortune on the speaker circuit. He was ratings gold on the Sunday morning gasbag shows. He could do no wrong.
You don't get that far in Washington without picking up some higher ambitions along the way. He had to have been thinking about the VP job, at a minimum. Leading him right to an eventual spot in the Oval Office. Being ambitious, he was willing to do what it took to realize those plans. Including selling out his own State Department Intelligence office by putting his reputation and endorsement behind the bullshit 'intelligence' that was coming out of Doug Feith's asshole regarding NBC weapons in Iraq.
And then it all went to shit.
George Bush and his minions managed to destroy the Republican brand for -- with luck -- a generation. And managed to destroy Powell's ambitions right along with it. His chances of any higher office in his lifetime have disappeared. And he can't be happy about it.
That's why he endorsed Obama.
I'm sure he's given himself a half dozen rationalizations of why Obama is the better man (all true). But I have a hard time believing the man who's been a good Republican soldier all his life has suddenly seen the light of Democratic truth. There's more than just disillusionment going on here. Anger and ambition seem the logical alternatives to me.