Category: US Politics

I’ve always been interested in the personality and politics of Colin Powell. As far back as the first Gulf War (I was only 10 at the time), I remember being impressed by his own oratorial skills. And I was equally shocked by his 2003 address to the United Nations – I didn’t believe anything he said.

I was not surprised by his endorsement of Obama. Powell has always said that he is retired, but I can’t help but feel that Obama may offer him a cabinet position should Obama get elected. It would depolarise some of the worst parts of the election campaign, and not just look bi-partisan, but be bi-partisan. I wonder would Powell accept an offer.

Update: Interestingly, Obama said today

On Monday, Obama said Powell would advise him if he becomes president.

“He’s already served in that function, even before he endorsed me,” Obama told NBC. “Whether he wants to take a formal role, whether there’s something that’s a good fit for him, I think is something that he and I would have to discuss.”

My fellow prisoners…

And thank you to Mr Damon for saying the most sensible stuff about Palin thus far.

It’s looking like an Obama/Biden ticket. Steve has called it.

I was impressed with Joe Biden’s speech back in 2005 at a conference I attended in Washington. I blogged a little about the conference here. You can watch videos from the conference here. You can also watch Biden’s speech here.

I guess we can expect the Irish media to start talking up Biden’s Irish-American credentials. His Irish roots come from both sides, though most directly from his mother Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan.

He quotes William Butler Yeats at the start of the speech. Towards the end of the speech he says:

Let me end – I’m always quoting Irish poets – my friends kid me and say I do it because I am Irish. That’s not the reason. I do it because they are the best poets in the world. Seamus Heaney, in his poem The Cure at Troy, for which he won the Nobel prize for literature in the mid 90s said in one stanza – which I think should become our anthem because I believe it with every fibre of my being… You talk about all the dangers but what about the opportunities?

We, if we are smart, if we are bright, if we are persistent, if we are a little lucky and if we follow our values, in a tough minded way… I really think we have a chance to change history on the margins, at least in the margins, for the 21st century. And I think a stanza from ths poem should become our anthem. He said in one stanza, he said:

“History says. Don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up.
And hope and history rhyme.”

I honest to god believe after 33 years of doing this job, we still have a shot, we still have a shot – to make hope and history rhyme. If we trust our people, follow our instincts, and are willing to make the sacrifices necessary. Thank you all very much.

Cian points to a video of Obama dug up from 1995. In 2004 this wouldn’t have happened in the same way, YouTube has changed the dynamic.

Part I

Part II

Part III