Powell Says He Disagrees With Bush on University of Michigan Affirmative Action Case

tbo.com ^ | 1-19-02 | ap

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

In Rare Public Dissent, Powell Says He Disagrees With Bush on University of Michigan Affirmative Action Case By Scott Lindlaw Associated Press Writer Published: Jan 19, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he disagrees with President Bush's position on an affirmative action case before the Supreme Court. Powell, one of two black members of Bush's Cabinet, said he supports methods the University of Michigan uses to bolster minority enrollments in its undergraduate and law school programs. The policies offer points to minority applicants and set goals for minority admissions.

"Whereas I have expressed my support for the policies used by the University of Michigan, the president, in looking at it, came to the conclusion that it was constitutionally flawed based on the legal advice he received," Powell said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

It was a rare public acknowledgment of dissent with the president and with other top White House aides.

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said she backed Bush's decision to step into the case before the Supreme Court and to argue that the University of Michigan's methods were unconstitutional. She said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that there are "problems" with the university's selection policies, and cited the points system.

But she also said race can be a factor in colleges' selection process. The brief the Bush administration filed with the Supreme Court was silent on that issue of whether race can be a factor under some circumstances.

"It is important to take race into consideration if you must, if race-neutral means do not work," she said.

Rice said she had benefited from affirmative action during her career at Stanford University.

"I think they saw a person that they thought had potential, and yes, I think they were looking to diversify the faculty," she said.

"I think there's nothing wrong with that in the United States," Rice said. "It does not mean that one has to go to people of lower quality. Race is a factor in our society."

In a speech to the Republican National Convention in 2000, Powell sharply criticized GOP attacks on affirmative action.

"We must understand the cynicism that exists in the black community," he said. "The kind of cynicism that is created when, for example, some in our party miss no opportunity to roundly and loudly condemn affirmative action that helped a few thousand black kids get an education, but you hardly heard a whimper from them over affirmative action for lobbyists who load our federal tax codes with preferences for special interests."

Sunday on CNN, Powell said he remained "a strong proponent of affirmative action."

Education Secretary Rod Paige is the other black member of Bush's Cabinet.

Paige firmly agrees with Bush's stance, a spokesman said Sunday.

"Secretary Paige believes in equal opportunity for all students and he fully supports President Bush's position on the University of Michigan case," said spokesman Dan Langan. He wasn't sure whether Paige agreed with Rice that race can sometimes be a factor in university admissions.

Bush, who drew 9 percent of the black vote in 2000, was attending a predominantly black church on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.

AP-ES-01-19-03 1732EST

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Mr. Belefonte will be happy

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[clintonh8r]

Day-o!

[Wphile]

Colin should have kept his mouth shut on this one.

Sometimes I really dislike Colin Powell. Now is one of those times.

[joesnuffy]

Powell is just leaving all his options open...doesnt matter to him one lick...whether he services a republican or democrat as long as he's got his. imo

[Senator Pardek]

Although Powell is of course wrong, it's again the media that sickens me.

Those lefties see Powell as a black man first, and as Secretary of State somewhere down the line.

Why should a Sec. of State ever be asked such a question?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[jwalsh07]

Powell looks at life a bit differently than I do and while I think he is wrong here, I can understand where he is coming from.

[junta]

I'm glad two black millionaires could come down this side of Mugabe on racial preferences.

[cynicom]

I thought Powell was Sec. of state???? Since when is internal affairs part of his province???

[Maynerd]

I am looking forward to the day he departs this administration. He is terminally infected with the political military/pentagon CYA, be all things to all people disease. No one rises into the JCS (regardless of pigmentation) without being a craven political manipulator. AMF.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Yes, I agree. I have read some of Powell's position papers on leadership and he clearly is not an "afirmative action general", however he believes he benefited in his early career from those policies and has the integrity to admit it. I am sorry that he does not see that a points system based on race is injurious to the candidate being admitted and to those who lost out due to the race delta however small a factor it was.

[No Truce With Kings]

You know, adults can disagree on policy and still work together. I have had strong disagreements with my boss on stuff, but when it was over I saluted, said "yes sir!," and did what I was told to do. At the same time, if anyone asked me if I thought I was doing the right thing, I would say that my boss and I disagreed, but he told me to do things this way. I respected him, and would not have thought of quitting because we disagreed. He respected me, and would not have thought of firing me because I disagreed. (He often said that is why he kept me around -- he did not want yes men.)

Similarly Bush and Powell often disagree. But when time comes to implement policy, Bush's policy is implemented. The two respect each other, and Bush values the fact that the two have different viewpoints. Thus, that Bush does something with which Powell disagrees, and that Powell is willing to acknowledge such disagreements strikes me as big nonstory. That is how adults work.

Now, if the story was that, say . . . Albright disagreed with a Clinton policy and was willing to say so publicly, while not (a) resigning immediatedly after doing so, (b) being fired immediately after doing so, or (c) becoming a victim of Arkancide immediately *before* doing so, that would have been news. But that is the difference between children in the White House and adults.

[TLBSHOW]

You should hear what Rush says about it.

[ArcLight]

Oh no! You mean...GW Bush surrounded himself with black folks who are not yes-men, but think for themselves and say what they think? Ye gods! What's the world coming to?

[Republic of Texas]

No socialist would ever hire a person who thinks for themselves.

[Norman Arbuthnot]

Does anyone know if the Univ. of Michigan admissions formula awards 20 points to black applicants regardless of their economic background? Is a black student who comes from an upper middle class family and who has attended a prep school still given the extra 20 points? I'm just curious. If UM awards extra race points to affluent blacks that would be so unfair that I doubt even Powell could support it.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I have no problem with colin saying what he believes but I do not see how he fits in this administration and it agenda affirmative action is wrong and he opens his mouth which hurts the agenda

[ArcLight]

I'm a black guy who certainly has benefited from affirmative action. Yet I think it must be halted--at least the form which is based on race and sets lower standards for minorities.

Is that inconsistency? Not at all. And here's why. To the extent that this form of AA makes sense, it's as a tactic to give a boost to first-generation "strivers." I mean, minority folks who come from deprived backgrounds and didn't have all the opportunities of middle-class whites. That description covers me pretty accurately.

But it doesn't at all apply to my kids, who have a nice middle-class existence, go to good schools and get good grades. Why should they be treated as "deprived," and in need of extra help? They'll do fine.

Treating my kids as cripples because they're black is frankly insulting. I don't want that to happen to them. And that's why I think Bush is right.