Colin Powell At Humphrey

I just returned from the Carlson Lecture at the University of Minnesota, featuring former Secretary of State Colin Powell. One thing that is striking about the former Secretary is his keen sense of humor — undoubtedly that’s one thing that diplomatic considerations usually obscure. However, Powell was engaging, frank, and always interesting. It’s clear that he has his disagreements with the Bush Administration, and believes that we did not commit sufficient forces to Iraq (an argument that has a lot of weight behind it), but he refused to directly speak out against his former colleagues. His sense of loyalty and propriety are obviously too great for him to do that.

Powell was an enjoyable speaker, and the University of Minnesota Carlson Center and the U of M’s Hubert H. Humphrey Center did an excellent job of generating turnout despite that other event occurring just across the river…

UPDATE: The Star Tribune has a piece on Powell’s speech.