It's not just a matter of whether you support Obama or Romney. It's who they have coming with them. I always keep my powder dry, as they say in the military.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of leadership teams and their values over individual candidates.
Colin Powell's quote highlights that evaluating political candidates goes beyond their personal ideologies; it is critical to consider the people they surround themselves with and the principles they represent. He uses a military saying to convey the need for preparedness and caution in decision-making, suggesting that the effectiveness of a leader is often determined by their advisors and allies.
In practice
In a debate about the upcoming elections, I might say, 'It's not just a matter of whether you support Obama or Romney. It's who they have coming with them.'
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best. 'Spare me the grim litany of the 'realist;' give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.
One of the fondest expressions around is that we can't be the world's policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop.
Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.
If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool.
High-quality early-childhood programs and health coverage have expanded, and the number of mentoring relationships for at-risk youth has risen dramatically. That progress is encouraging, but it's not evenly distributed.
As I've thought about gay marriage, I don't see any reason not to say that [couples] should be able to get married.
It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
Syria should not belong to one family, to one coterie, or to one party. It belongs to all the people of Syria equally, in all their religious and ethnic diversity.
Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.
The "progressives" who today masquerade as "liberals" may rant against "fascism"; yet it is their policy that paves the way for Hitlerism. Nothing could have been more helpful to the success of the National-Socialist (Nazi) movement than the methods used by the "progressives," denouncing Nazism as a party serving the interests of "capital." The German workers knew this tactic too well to be deceived by it again.
Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors.
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