Question #5
Why aren't Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice celebrated as exemplary Black Americans?
posted by Fenian Fox at 10:46 AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
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I hope my questions cause you discomfort. You don't learn anything by staying where you are comfortable. But ask yourself, if you don't like the question, do you have a good answer? I look forward to your comments and your question suggestions.
posted by Fenian Fox at 10:46 AM
3 Comments:
They are. But given the political environment of the moment, they just happen to belong to the wrong party at a time when its leader and those around him are extremely unpopular.
This is true, particularly of Powell, who's rags to State story is very inspiring. I don't know much about Condi, except that she's extremely intelligent and limited only to the extent that she still perceives the world through a "Cold War" lens.
You may be right, though I think you may suffer from a bit of beltway myopia in defining W as extremely unpopular. I don't think there has ever been a greater disconnect between the media and the silent majority.
My sense is that this question goes beyond politics into racial identity in America. I don't think that these two will ever gain traction in Black America because they aren't "keeping it real." I pray to God that I am wrong because I think the implications of this are pretty scary. As always, I hunger for intelligent opinions on this as I am an interogator and not a preacher.
As I am myself involved with strategic military planning, I would be interested to hear more of your thoughts on Condi's Cold War lens.
W as extremely unpopular. I don't think there has ever been a greater disconnect between the media and the silent majority.
I think I will disagree with you on this. First, most polls show that W is unpopular, and that even people who would normally support him are having doubts (if they have not turned against him). This is borne out by the fact that even christian conservatives have come out against him for his inability or lack of vigor in pursuing an amendment banning gay marriage or banning homosexuality. Additionally, many were appalled to see a Christian convert about to be sentenced to death (read persecuted) by a government we helped to install in Afghanistan. This of course is not so much because of what we did or failed to do, but rather because of the manner in which the administration has engaged in "happy talk" about Afghanistan and the progress democracy has made in the country, rather than provide a realist assesment of what it will take for democracy to take root in the country. Furthermore, fiscal conservatives are extremely unhappy with the fact that the deficit is growing to even higher level, without seemingly any action coming from the president to address it, other than of course rhetoric. Iraq is also proving to be a problem for the president, not so much because we aren't making progress in the country (we are, but there's still a long way to go) but rather because it has become tied to his presidency in much the same way that Vietnam became tied to Johnson. This is not to say that Iraq is Vietnam all over again, it isn't, but that his presidency will now be judged by how the contest ultimately turns out. That erodes at least 10-15% points off his core constituency, add that to the fact that the other 49% (give or take 4-5%) of the country is already against him (most dems or center-left) and you have an unpopular president that is under the midway threshold by about 10-15 percentage points. (I guess my reliance on polls and statistics would make me beltway material huh! however, I think there is some truth to all this and the president and his supporters ignore it at their peril). Just so you know, I support both the Afghan campaign, and the Iraq campaign but do believe there is much to be desired from the manner in which the administration has conducted them. They've engaged in too much "happy talk" even when the reality on the ground did not warrant it, and unecessarily lost creidibility as a result.
As for Condi and Powell,I think there is also a component of what you argue to the underlying reasons for them not being seen as exemplary african-americans, but the truth goes alot deeper and takes into account the politics involved.
Regarding Condi, my problem with her at State, and many in the Pentagon is that they continue to search for the next peer competitor a la Soviet Union because only that can legitimize outrageous expenditures on unnecesarily expensive platforms that are not justified by the current climate in which we find ourselves in this GWOT. Additionally, due to their encounter with Communist China and Russia, they see the "communist" China of today, as not much changed to that of yesteryear when the reality is much different. China has almost completely broken with its communist past, it remains a dictatorship, but its is capitalist to the core. Internally China is changing fast, its population is not only urbanizing alot faster, but it is also aging more rapidly than any other in history, and has a huge stake in the international system as it stands today. There is much opportunity for making them into a partners in securing east asia and the middle east, but because those making the decisions continue to view them through a cold war lense, the most obvious ways of managing this strategic alliance are often overlooked, and instead engage in counter-productive policies that push us further and further away from that future worth creating.
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