If there was any man I admired and considered a role model, it was four star general Colin Luther Powell, former US Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was a soldier, diplomat, statesman per excellence, a barrier 
breaking black man who could have become America's first black president but, given his wife's discomfort with the idea of his going into partisan politics, decided family was more important, and passed. But he cleared the path for Barack Obama, another one of my four ULTIMATE
BLACK MEN (Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama, Kofi Annan, and Colin Powell), to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and remained the ultimate Washington insider. What I admired most about Powell was his leadership quality of inspiring trust and respect because he was balanced, centrist,
transparent. Like every star, he had his moment of controversy and, I am certain in retrospect, regret - when he held up that vial @UN Security Council and averred Sadam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But his high moment, a decade earlier, was the Powell Doctrine of
overwhelming force in the US-led multinational coalition that pounded Saddam Hussein's Iraq after the latter invaded Kuwait. A kid with humble beginnings in the Bronx in New York, Powell grew in stature through hard work, smart politics and excellent interpersonal relations,
into an American and global titan that transcended the limitations of race. But, good a thing, he never forgot he was a black man, and did not let the fact that he was a moderate Republican get in the way. In 2008, he endorsed @BarackObama for President. Other great African-
Americans (women, mainly) such as former US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser @CondoleezzaRice, former National Security Adviser @AmbassadorRice and US Ambassador to the UN @LindaT_G have kept the flag flying. Adieu, Colin Powell.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
