Obama Needs Powell

By Bernie Quigley

- for The Hill on 7/29/09

CNN squarely named the problem in its morning headline: Officer, Gates Needed Adult Supervision.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he has been the victim of racial profiling in the past, but that he believes Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could have been more patient with the police officer who arrested him. Speaking to CNN's Larry King, Powell also faulted the Cambridge Police Department for escalating the situation.

Maybe Obama needs adult supervision as well. This is something I have felt from the very beginning. In fact, from the first 12 hours after he received the nomination I felt there were problems and they went in this sequence: Joe Biden, Hillary, Rahm Emanuel, Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner. None of these people inspire professional confidence and the sudden bailout announcement seemed dangerously out of nowhere. Since then, I have seen the president’s office change course based on things they read in the morning papers.

There is a novelty aspect to a president who came to office with no experience in virtually anything and no conspicuous talents except a gift for oratory and a giddy press which celebrated him as a global god king is now beginning to create a negative reinforcement. Such nonsense could bring a hard fall. It is starting to hurt the dollar. This administration needs an mature hand; a wise adult. As Tony Dungy was brought on to mentor and coach Michael Vick, Colin Powell should be brought on as Special Advisor to the President.