Silicon Valley – Dan Gillmor’s eJournal – Powell’s Departure, Disappointing Tenure

I do not now and have never understood the adulation heaped upon Colin Powell. With the exception of the Powell Doctrine (which he’s been happy enough to jettison for two Bushes), his actions demonstrate that he’s not an independent thinker, wants to be a team player for the military and the Republicans as opposed to working for the good of the country, and he has remarkably little sense of history. Powell never would have achieved high rank and office if it hadn’t been for the racial integration of the military and yet he publicly refused a direct order from Bill Clinton to integrate gays.
The man is not spineless, but he’s no progressive, no matter how far left he may have been in the Bush administration. When push came to shove he lied to the UN the same way he lied about Vietnam.