Appearing on the Martin Luther King Day edition of ABC's The View, former Secretary State Colin Powell seemed to go out of his way to heap praise on President Lyndon Johnson for his role in promoting and protecting the civil rights of African Americans.
Responding to a question from Joy Behar about the possibility of an African American and a woman being on the same presidential ticket this November, Powell said:
That Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed by President Johnson in July, it was right after I got back from Vietnam and after I'd been tossed out of hamburger stands in Columbus Georgia, and when he signed that I went back to that hamburger stand and I could get my hamburger. So it took a Dr. Martin Luther King to really lead a second civil war for America because the first civil war didn't do it. And then it took legislators like the Congress that we had then. And it took leadership, such as President Johnson, to make it happen. That's how our country works. (Video here.)
Powell's remarks are similar to those that became a source of controversy surrounding Senator Hillary Clinton.
While campaigning in New Hampshire two weeks ago Sen. Clinton said:
Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done. That dream became a reality. The power of that dream became real in people's lives because we had a president who said, "We are going to do it," and actually got it accomplished. (Video here.)
Criticism of Clinton for her comment that "it took a president to get it done" was immediate and widespread throughout the traditional media and the blogosphere. The editorial board of The New York Times opined that "it was hard to escape the distasteful implication that a black man needed the help of a white man to effect change."
The question now is: Will the same pundits, professional or otherwise, attack Powell for his "distasteful implication" that it took the leadership of President Johnson "to make it happen", and if not, why not?
Perhaps it's because Sec. Powell is a media darling who can do no wrong, while Sen. Clinton is a lightning rod for media hyped controversy even where none exists.
