Powell and the crocodile

“We can’t pay for it all!”

Colin Powell, a powerful ally of President Obama, rather astonishingly uttered this truth last weekend about Obama’s job performance.

{mosads}The former secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff unnerved Republicans last fall when he endorsed Obama for president, naively requesting that Obama essentially adopt the basic principles of Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party. “Keep [government] as small as possible. Keep the tax burden on the American people as small as possible, but at the same time, have government that is solving the problems of the people.”

In the fable of the frog and the crocodile, the frog convinces himself to trust the crocodile not to kill and eat him as he catches a ride on his back across the river. Powell talked himself into believing the tax-and-spend Obama would not tax and spend away the next generation’s future. But just as the crocodile instead does what crocodiles do, devouring the surprised and betrayed frog, Obama is doing what we knew he would do: exploding the size of government, undertaking unparalleled spending sprees and racking up massive budget deficits and unimaginable national debt.

Just what part of candidate Obama’s agenda of big government, big taxes and redistribution of wealth did Powell not understand? Or, as many suspect, was he so blinded by the celebrity of Obama that he threw common sense out the window and joined in the mindless, meaningless chant of “Yes we can!”? He was, in his own endorsement words, impressed with Obama as a “transformational” figure who could “electrify” America. “He is crossing lines — ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines,” Powell said.

Vice President Biden recently blurted out on ABC, “The truth is, we and everyone else misread the economy.” The truth about Obama’s irresponsible approach to the economy and stewardship of our tax dollars is becoming more and more difficult to dance around. (BTW — Expect to see and hear even less from the vice president as he will no doubt be shuffled off to an undisclosed location to prevent future embarrassing truth-telling.)

Colin Powell now claims that he “never would have believed that we would have budgets that are running into the multitrillions of dollars, and we are amassing a huge, huge national debt that, if we don’t pay for it in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great-grandchildren will have to pay for it.”

Really??? He never would have believed the most liberal senator in Washington would spend, spend, spend? It’s mind-boggling that Colin Powell not only believes he has a shred of credibility remaining on non-defense-related political issues, but likely feels as betrayed as the frog in the fable. Even more puzzling is why he so willingly announced to the world he was so easily duped and seduced by Barack Obama, despite ample evidence that an Obama presidency would be one of the top tax-and-spend administrations in U.S. history.

Crocodiles devour frogs, even if they say they won’t. They are, after all, crocodiles. It’s what they do.

Jacobus, president of Capitol Strategies PR, has managed congressional campaigns, worked on Capitol Hill and is an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.  She appears on CNN,
MSNBC and FOX News as a GOP strategist.