GQ: Powell Frustrated, Will Not Return

NewsMax ^ | May. 5, 2004 | Carl Limbacher

[pogo101]

What Black person would any white conservative vote for as President of the US?

Welcome to FR. What does race have to do with it? To answer your question, however: Colin Powell and Condi Rice are both decent options. If Herman Cain wins the Senate seat in Georgia and acquits himself well in his first term, he's a possibility too. The "bullpen" keeps growing as more and more blacks leave the Democrat plantation.

[far sider]

Condi. I like her but there's no chance she could head the ticket. Maybe after 10 years as Senator, Governor, etc., but "as is", no way.

Bill Frist. He doesn't even impress me as Maj Leader.

Ashcroft. We would vote for him, but no one else would (for Pres.) He doesn't have the looks or the personality.

Rudy. He could win. But he's pretty liberal. I would like to see him high up in a GOP Administration.

I don't think any of your choices holds a candle to Powell (except Juliani.) Powell would still be better.

[marron]

There is a good chance Powell will be drafted to run for president at some point.

I keep reading that Powell is unhappy with his place in the Bush team, but what I see is Powell playing good cop to Rumsfeld's bad cop, and both working to implement Bush's policy. When Powell speaks, I hear a guy who thinks clearly and has a good grasp of the issues.

I know he isn't as conservative on social issues as I would like, but there isn't anyone as experienced as he is in foreign policy. In either party. I don't agree with everything he is purported to believe but I generally agree with his public remarks, the ones I hear come directly from his own mouth. He isn't the ideological purist that Cheney is, but then neither is Bush. He isn't the military firebrand that Rumsfeld is, but he has proven himself to be militarily competent if a little timid for my taste.

But even compared to these guys that I admire a great deal, he is pretty solid. As a president we could do worse. And have done worse many many times.

[beaver fever]

He should have run in 2000. He is the most skilled and experienced candidate, in military and diplomatic terms since Eisenhower. Instead he accepted SOS. Since then he and the State dept have been bushwacked by Rumsfeld and the rest of the AEI hacks ever since. I've lost track of the number of times he has made public policy statements in good faith only to be contradicted by his fellow cabinet members and forced into humiliating public "clarifications".

[jjackson]

BIOGRAPHY

Lawrence B. Wilkerson
Chief of Staff,
Term of Appointment: 08/01/2002 to present


Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) Larry Wilkerson joined General Colin L. Powell in March 1989 at the U.S. Army’s Forces Command in Atlanta, Georgia as his Deputy Executive Officer. He followed the General to his next position as Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving as his special assistant. Upon Powell's retirement from active service in 1993, Colonel Wilkerson served as the Deputy Director and Director of the U.S. Marine Corps War College at Quantico, Virginia. Upon Wilkerson’s retirement from active service in 1997, he began working for General Powell in a private capacity as a consultant and advisor.

In December 2000, Secretary of State-designate Powell asked Wilkerson to join him in the Transition Office at the U.S. State Department and, later, upon his confirmation as Secretary of State, Secretary Powell moved Wilkerson to his Policy Planning Staff with responsibilities for East Asia and the Pacific, and legislative and political-military affairs. In June of 2002, the Director for Policy Planning, Ambassador Richard Haass, made Wilkerson the associate director. In August of 2002, Secretary Powell moved Wilkerson to the position of Chief of Staff of the Department.

Wilkerson is a veteran of the Vietnam war as well as a U.S. Army “Pacific hand,” having served in Korea, Japan, and Hawaii and participated in military exercises throughout the Pacific. Moreover, Wilkerson was Executive Assistant to US Navy Admiral Stewart A. Ring, Director for Strategy and Policy (J5) USCINCPAC, from 1984-87. Wilkerson also served on the faculty of the U.S. Naval War College at Newport, RI and holds two advanced degrees, one in International Relations and the other in National Security Studies. He has written extensively on military and national security affairs–especially for college-level curricula--and been published in a number of professional journals, including the Naval Institute’s Proceedings, The Naval War College Review, Military Review, and Joint Force Quarterly (JFQ).
[End]

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/26731.htm