LETTERS: POWELL TRANSCENDS LABELS

To the editor:

President Clinton has chosen well. Gen. Colin Powell has chosen well, especially Powell. He has chosen to head the administration's child welfare and volunteer endeavor. This hopes, among other things, to express the government's legitimate role in inspiring the private sector and society as a whole to a nonpartisan effort to address national concerns.

Colin Powell has declared himself as a Republican. However, his posture on various issues establishes him decidedly as a republican (with a small R), even a democratic republican. When he declared himself as a Republican, it was quickly evident that the party didn't want a republican of his stripe. He must have become acutely aware that he is a misfit in either party's shenanigans. Even though he has a popularity rating of 77 percent with a negative rating of only 7 percent, he has positioned himself above the fray and insisted on concerning himself with simply meeting genuine need. He is pressed on many sides to use his popularity to lead the nation as president, but he advisedly and firmly refuses to take the bait. He is quick to realize that for him to remind Americans that they "speak with a forked tongue" -- and for youth to learn discipline, orderliness and "paying taxes" as he did on "Meet the Press" recently -- would not play well on the political hustings. Hence, he seems to have doggedly determined to venture his political capital as a public figure, not as a political figure.

When President Kennedy exhorted Americans to "ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," he didn't live long enough to enforce the challenge. It remains to be seen whether Colin Powell at 77 percent can confront Americans and make reality stick.

GILBERT DEGENHARDT

Cape Girardeau