MR. SMALL TIME - AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  Colin Powell got his State Department portrait yesterday, as if anyone cares.  I've always regarded Powell as vastly overrated, self-righteous, and, in the end, petty and selfish.  Here is a man who opposed Ronald Reagan's "tear down that wall" Berlin speech; who seemed spectacularly indifferent to the first Gulf war; who was so vague on advancing the American interest that he even frustrated Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton's secretary of state; who didn't even bother to visit Ground Zero, in his home city, after the 9-11 attacks; who spent most of his time as secretary of state in his desk chair; who has sniped repeatedly at his own president, George W. Bush, but didn't have the dignity to resign in protest; who turned his back on John McCain to endorse the inexperienced machine politician, Barack Obama; and who didn't even have the class to acknowledge members of the Bush administration, including rivals, who came to his portrait's unveiling.  From the Washington Post:

Though all of Powell's colleagues from the Bush Cabinet were invited, Rumsfeld, former Bush chief of staff Andy Card and a couple of others were outnumbered among attendees by a media contingent that included Tom Brokaw, Diane Sawyer, Sam Donaldson, Wolf Blitzer and Joe Scarborough.

Powell singled out none of his Bush colleagues, instead acknowledging former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer. "Many of you will remember the disagreement that we had with Germany over the Iraq situation in 2003, to the point where our leaders were somewhat estranged from each other, but Joschka and I and our fellow diplomats on both sides were never estranged from each other," he told an audience that included Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), former senators John Warner and Paul Laxalt, and Obama adviser David Axelrod.

Acknowledging Rumsfeld, who came to honor Powell, and praising Rumsfeld's efforts at national defense after 9-11, would have been the class thing to do.  But lack of class always shows.

Powell praised the resurgent notion of "respecting the right of other nations to disagree with us and often dealing with regimes that do not share our values."

George W. Bush dealt with plenty of regimes like that.  Powell's memory is conveniently defective.

It was a repudiation of the administration Powell served from that very building. Maybe that's why the Clinton State Department, even in these lean times, spared no expense for its Powell party. Waiters in black tie carried silver trays with wine and hors d'oeuvres to Powell's 300 guests. A musical trio played softly.

COMMENT:  Now Powell should retire, not write his memoirs, and leave us alone.

December 8, 2009