(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
by Frank James
Zogby International had a poll late last week that suggested that a ticket of Sen. Barack Obama and Colin Powell could give Obama a huge boost with many voters.
Among likely voters, 42 percent said if the unofficial Democratic nominee chose Powell as his running mate, it would make them more likely to vote him. That compared with 30 percent for Hillary Clinton and 15 percent for Bill Richardson.
Seems like a dream ticket. Except it isn't. Certainly, Powell has the foreign policy and national security experience and gravitas many voters believe Obama lacks. If Obama chose Powell, assuming the general and former Secretary of State is even interested, that could go a long way towards shoring Obama up.
But selecting Powell would also be very problemmatic for a candidate who has made his judgment on the Iraq War, that is, that he knew beforehand that it was a mistake to invade, a major argument for his candidacy.
Powell delivered what was essentially a successful closing argument for the war during his 2003 appearance before the United Nations, when he said the Bush Administration had evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. We all know how that turned out.
How would Obama square this circle of choosing as a running mate someone who not only made the critical sales pitch for the war but supported it as one of the best-known members of the Bush team? He'd be choosing someone with demonstrably bad judgment, as Obama defines it. Even as gifted a politician as Obama would find that a tough lift.
It would make it impossible for Obama to keep highlighting one of the key differences between himself and Sen. John McCain, the unofficial Republican presidential nominee, who supported the war from the start. It just wouldn't make sense for Obama to do that.
So while it makes for an interesting polling question and result, it would be politically shocking if Obama were to choose Powell.
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Comments
Powell is too smart to get tied up with the likes of Obama-
Posted by: George | July 21, 2008 3:12 PM
Powell lost all credibility when he sold the UN on the phony Iraq WMD's for BushCo and McCain in 2003.
Posted by: Ed | July 21, 2008 3:26 PM
What would make sense is a McCain-Powell ticket. Unbeatable! And while Mr. James implies Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, what was it Hussein (sorry Obama) used to kill all those Kurds. Oh yes. Poison gas. And that's not a weapon of mass destruction?
Posted by: Jefferson | July 21, 2008 3:31 PM
while Mr. James implies Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, what was it Hussein (sorry Obama) used to kill all those Kurds. Oh yes. Poison gas. And that's not a weapon of mass destruction?
Posted by: Jefferson | July 21, 2008 3:31 PM
John McSame want's to get as far away from the Bush team as possible...but unfortunately for McCain, he's already tied to them at the hip:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqtL-P8kzo
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Posted by: John E | July 21, 2008 3:50 PM
I think that Obama-Powell would be a dream ticket, but for two problems: (1) unfortuantely, a good chunk of America isn't ready for an all-African-American Presidential/Vice Presidential ticket, and (2) Powell's self-inflicted credibility wounding at the UN presentation during the run-up to the Iraq war. A shame, really . . . .
Posted by: Buster | July 21, 2008 5:42 PM
This is the extreme of possibilities. Even further out there than all the news they repeatedly tried to make of a OB/Hillary combo.
It may make OB look good for a day or two, but eventually the chances of it happening will make it's way out in the news and then the next unlikely persons name comes up ha.
Posted by: Teresa | July 21, 2008 9:43 PM
Obama should select Powell to be Sec. of Defense. This is the position that should have in a Powell administration.
Posted by: Mantisman | July 22, 2008 2:56 PM
Zogby's poll tested all the visible candidates for VP from both parties.
Powell's net numbers (more-likely minus less-likely) ranked him head and shoulders above anyone being considered by either candidate.
He would be far more help to Obama than Hillary Clinton, whose negatives approached her positives.
That was especially true among Independent voters.
That gives lie to the left-wing's two arguments against the selection of Powell: that he's black and that he was wrong on Iraq.
If those thing mattered, Zogby's poll would not have shown Powell to be the only possible VEEP who would actually massively help the top of the ticket.
If we are ready for a black President who changes his mind about Iraq on a daily basis, we are easily able to embrace a VP who changed his mind on Iraq even before Obama got to the Senate.
Most of all, Powell would guard Obama's back, greatly reducing the chance some racist wacko might try to change the complexion of the President through assassination.
Powell will say yes because the fear of assassination on the part of his wife is the reason I and others could not convince him to run for President in 1996 or 2000.
Posted by: Jim Hale | July 22, 2008 3:34 PM