By George Neumayr on 2.20.02 @ 12:02AM
What did Colin Powell mean when he said everyone should ''forget about conservative ideas''?
Timothy Wirth, a State Department undersecretary for Bill
Clinton, was famous for placing a bowl of condoms in his office.
Will Colin Powell carry on the august tradition?
Perhaps. Powell, appearing on MTV, told kids last week to
purchase condoms and "protect yourself." Powell -- managing to
carve out time during the war on terrorism to appear before Britney
Spears fans -- dismissed moral objections to teen condom use: "It
is important that the whole international community come together,
speak candidly about it, forget about taboos, forget about
conservative ideas with respect to what you should tell young
people about."
"Forget about conservative ideas"? That in essence is Powell's
position on most issues. He occupies the Joycelyn Elders chair of
political correctness in the George Bush administration -- mouthing
the PC line on everything from abortion to Fidel Castro ("He's done
some good things for his people," says Powell) to homosexuals in
the military.
Powell's endless, media-sponsored victory lap since the close of
the Gulf War (which he failed to analyze wisely, objecting to its
beginning and then urging its Saddam-shirking ending) is wearing
thin. Can't somebody in the Bush administration stand up to
him?
Does America really need its Secretary of State to weigh in on
matters of sexual hygiene?
Powell seems to relish contradicting his colleagues in the Bush
administration, and then feigning shock when the media draw a
contrast between him and the rest of the administration.
The State Department now finds itself in a highly dignified
debate with MTV over a fawning profile of Powell. "State Department
rejects portions of MTV profile of Powell," said one headline. The
kids at MTV got the crazy idea that Powell is more liberal than his
Bush administration colleagues: "Before September 11, Powell was
the lone voice for international cooperation in an administration
with an America-first attitude," an unidentified MTV announcer was
quoted in the accompanying story. "The terrorist attacks hit the
reset button on American foreign policy, but Powell's call for
caution and global teamwork are still at odds with the more
aggressive Defense Department."
The State Department "had a discourse with MTV" to correct this
impression, according to Philip Reeker, a State Department
official. But what can we do? said Reeker. "MTV and the program are
independent journalists, who are free to express their
opinions."
Who knows what MTV will misinterpret next? MTV watchers might
even wildly conclude from Powell's pro-condom remarks that the
secretary of state approves of teen sex.
George Neumayr is frequent contributor to the
California Political Review and a recent media fellow at the Hoover
Institution.
topics:
Foreign Policy, Abortion, Military
