Secretary of State Colin Powell has been the one moderating voice in the Bush administration. He served the liberals reasonably well during the first years of Bush II (at least well enough to keep us from killing ourselves), all the way up to the decision to go to war over Iraq. Powell held the line there for a while on Iraq, but then he let those neo-cons over at the Pentagon roll all over him.
Still, even a lefty has to welcome the fact that Colin Powell has been in charge of our foreign relations (though sadly, not nearly in charge enough of our overall foreign policy).
Now comes the sobering news that Powell will retire at the end of Bush II.1.
If that's not enough to keep you from voting for anyone other than Bush, consider this:
[Condoleezza] Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz are the leading candidates to replace Powell, according to sources inside and outside the administration.
Picturing Wolfowitz as Secretary of State makes our stomachs turn. He's not exactly, shall we say, dimplomatic. And Condoleezza Rice is no consolation prize.
Still not ready to vote for the un-Bush? It gets worse:
Another dark horse is former House speaker Newt Gingrich. The Georgia Republican appears to be openly campaigning for the job, arguing in speeches and in a recent Foreign Policy magazine article that the State Department under Powell has failed to adequately support Bush's policies.
And that, my friends, even the mere prospect, is enough to make us hit the un-Bush campaign trail yesterday.
