by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n Like many, I was confused not by General Colin Powell\u2019s endorsements of Barack Obama, but rather his recent remarks alleging Republican extremism and racism. His barrage was internally inconsistent and ultimately made little sense at all. Such unfounded charges are out of character with his distinguished record and career.<\/p>\n In 2008 and 2012, Republicans nominated candidates from the more moderate wing of the party. Mitt Romney had been a centrist Massachusetts governor, and fellow Republican senator John McCain, for example, whom Powell also did not endorse, in the 2000 primaries had run to the left of Powell\u2019s own employer, George W. Bush. In fact, McCain ran a campaign which was certainly more centrist than those of Reagan and the elder Bush, both of whom were also Powell\u2019s bosses. McCain\u2019s advisers were moderates in comparison to a Lyn Nofzinger or a take-no-prisoners Lee Atwater. If the issue had been primarily moderation in the Republican party, then Powell quite logically could have seen in McCain a candidate more centrist than the three Republican presidents he once worked for.<\/p>\n While \u201cshuck and jive\u201d is a silly term to use \u2014 although liberals from current press secretary Tim Carney to Chris Mathews have felt no hesitation in employing it, and its origins and exact meaning are mired in controversy \u2014 it was Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo in 2008 (\u201cYou can\u2019t shuck and jive at a press conference.\u201d), not Sarah Palin, who was the first major political figure to use the phrase in criticism of Barack Obama \u2014 to the apparent silence of General Powell at the time.<\/p>\n Stereotyping, polarization, and racial insensitivity have been frequent in the last three years. Yet when one collates the explicit instances (e.g., \u201cthey cling to guns and religion,\u201d \u201cnation of cowards,\u201d \u201cpunish our enemies,\u201d \u201cput y\u2019all in chains,\u201d etc.), Democrats seem at least as culpable as Republicans in their indiscretions. As far as direct slurs of African-Americans in the context of the Obama candidacy, there were two infamous instances \u2014 one a reported characterization of Barack Obama by Senator Harry Reid (\u201ca light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one\u201d), and another by Senator Joe Biden (\u201cI mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy\u201d) \u2014 both insensitive stereotypes, as far as commensurate public commentary goes, ignored by Powell at the time. Were Cuomo, Biden, and Reid seen in 2008 as symptomatic of a darker liberal racism within the Democratic party?<\/p>\n As far as Powell\u2019s oblique reference to Governor Sununu\u2019s supposed racism for claiming Obama had been \u201clazy\u201d in his preparation for the first presidential debate, the blunderbuss Sununu is known for just such off-the-cuff and blunt candor about everyone. Yet \u201clazy\u201d is not quite Sununu\u2019s alone: Barack Obama himself, in a moment of self-critique, earlier had used the same image to describe his own failings (e.g., \u201cThere is a deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think there\u2019s a laziness in me\u201d). I don\u2019t think Obama saw any particular racial connotation in the epithet.<\/p>\n But more worrisome is the larger context of Powell\u2019s remarks. If he is worried about uncivil speech, extremism, and a cruelty in the public arena, then he might have recalled that his own boss was the object of a mainstream novel imagining his assassination, of a prize-winning docudrama imagining his assassination, of a\u00a0Guardian<\/em>\u00a0op-ed imagining his assassination, and of a\u00a0New Republic<\/em>\u00a0essay entitled \u201cWhy I hate George W. Bush.\u201d Those smears did not come from conservative critics, of whom there were many, and they did not prompt Powell\u2019s commensurate outrage. But even stranger, Powell himself, as Brett Stephens recently pointed out, has allegedly said things that might be termed insensitive to Jews (e.g., \u201cGestapo office\u201d and \u201ccard-carrying member of the Likud Party\u201d) in the context of loose, political speech that is part of the Washington give-and-take.<\/p>\n Powell is an authentic American hero, who heretofore was honored by Republicans in three administrations with prestigious appointments, could have had their presidential nomination in 1996, and had been smeared only by those on the left (despicably, as a \u201chouse negro\u201d from the likes of Al Sharpton and Harry Belafonte) \u2014 to the general silence of liberals. Nonetheless, his recent accusations are not factual, at least from the evidence he so far has cited. Perhaps they reflect a deeper anguish at former colleagues, and especially \u201cneocons\u201d (who once supposedly elicited from Powell the pejorative \u201cf***ing crazies\u201d) \u2014 all in the context of his tenure as secretary of state and his departure, and especially the unfortunate flawed presentation at the UN on WMD in Iraq and the disturbing silence about the role of his subordinate Richard Armitage in the Scooter Libby travesty. Certainly the controversies over those years have left their scars on both sides.<\/p>\n Colin Powell\u2019s distinguished career rightly allows him to be influential in his political assessments and to speak candidly about whatever he sees as the truth \u2014 but his recent allegations are neither logical nor supported with evidence. And that\u2019s simply a pity.<\/p>\n \u00a92013 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner Like many, I was confused not by General Colin Powell\u2019s endorsements of Barack Obama, but rather his recent remarks alleging Republican extremism and racism. His barrage was internally inconsistent and ultimately made little sense at all. Such unfounded charges are out of character with his distinguished record and career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11,31,46],"tags":[12,52,53],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1T","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3253,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-campaign-takes-a-very-strange-turn\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":0},"title":"The Campaign Takes a Very Strange Turn","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 31, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Questions Still Not Answered Why didn\u2019t Colin Powell and Co. jump ship in, say, June or July, and endorse Obama after many months of campaigning when his positions were already well known? That is, why wait until late October when, after the financial meltdown,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2008"","block_context":{"text":"October 2008","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2008\/october-2008\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3234,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-day-after\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":1},"title":"The Day After","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media Reconciliation I wish President-elect Obama well, and hope that even his critics can concede that he waged a successful and often brilliant (if not shrewdly stealthy) campaign. It seems to me that conservatives have a golden opportunity to offer criticism and advice in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "November 2008"","block_context":{"text":"November 2008","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2008\/november-2008\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11891,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/democratic-candidates-arent-on-a-winning-track\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":2},"title":"Democratic Candidates Aren\u2019t on a Winning Track","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ American Greatness Presidential candidates from both parties usually sound hard-core in the primaries to appeal to their progressive or conservative bases. But for the general election, the nominees move to the center to pick off swing voters and centrist independents. Voters put up with the scripted\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":726,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/romney-fights-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":3},"title":"Romney Fights Back","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Mitt Romney was recently derided by the Obama campaign for his appearance with Donald Trump. Trump is supposed to be radioactive because of his stubborn insistence that the Obama birth certificate is inauthentic. Romney\u2019s supporters, however, ignored the complaint and pointed instead to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election 2012"","block_context":{"text":"Election 2012","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/obama-administration\/election-2012\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3256,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obama-enigma\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":4},"title":"The Obama Enigma","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Lame-duck Republican President Bush's dismal poll ratings have descended to those of Harry Truman's when he left office. The Democratic majority in Congress will probably widen after the election. Republican nominee John McCain has not run a dynamic campaign. Gen. Colin Powell, George\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "October 2008"","block_context":{"text":"October 2008","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2008\/october-2008\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1134,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-obama-fabulists\/","url_meta":{"origin":117,"position":5},"title":"The Obama Fabulists","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama was billed as a cool rationalist \u2014 a sober and judicious intellectual so unlike the inattentive and twangy \u201csmoke \u2019em out\u201d George W. Bush, so rational in contrast to the herky-jerky and frenetic John McCain. 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