SHAME ON YOU, COLIN

In tones as confident, as hushed, and as serious, as the ones he used when stating the case for war in Iraq, Colin Powell finally endorsed Barack Obama this morning.

Listening to him trying to justify his position one felt the same way as one might as if one had just heard St. Peter making a favorable reference to Lucifer. But it was not St. Peter to whom we were listening, it was Judas Iscariot. It profits a man not to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul, but for a job in the Obama administration, oh dear. When Powell described Obama as a patriotic American dedicated to the welfare of the country he showed that he is just one of many who have fallen prey to the biggest political public relations hoax of the last hundred years. Just as in "Alice In Wonderland", we have passed through the looking glass where black is white and white is black.

Powell mentioned Obama's intellectual vigor but conveniently said nothing about the candidate's intellectual rigor, let alone his intellectual honesty. He described Obama as a "transformational figure". Doubtless this is due to Obama's ability to transform fantasy into fiction into policy initiatives...abracadabra and hey presto! Powell did not explain how electing the foremost liberal in the U.S. Senate would be good for the welfare of the country. Perhaps he meant to say it would be good for those who are on welfare in this country. It's not quite the same thing, of course.

He went on to imply that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin was a cynical one, but what could have been more cynical than Obama's choice of Biden? At a stroke, Obama secured himself against any possible assassination attempt. With the exception of Bosnia, Biden has been wrong on almost every foreign policy issue since his election to the Senate 36 years ago. He brings an entirely new meaning to the term "artificial intelligence" and whenever he speaks he proves the wisdom of the adage that silence is indeed golden.

Throughout Powell's interview one had the faint sense that John McCain was paying for Powell's resignation as Secretary of State and that there was still a simmering resentment not only towards the Bush Administration but also towards his own weakness in the conduct of our foreign affairs. One could not help detecting his air of bitterness thinly disguised as it may have been by his air of gravitas.

Although disappointing, Powell's endorsement of Obama comes as no real surprise but Henry Kissinger's endorsement of John McCain more than makes up for it.