The ballot box is like a big TV clicker, with restless voters "channel surfing" between political parties, says retired Gen. Colin Powell.
"Click!" Powell said of the 1992 election of President Clinton, in which voters turned out his "beloved friend, my commander in chief," George Bush."Click!" he said of the 1994 Republican seizure of Congress, which Powell called a popular rejection of Clinton's brand of "new Democrats."
Get used to officeholder upheaval, Powell said in a speech Wednesday night at the University of Missouri-Rolla. And watch for politicians to shift positions as they try to placate disaffected voters, he said.
"We see President Clinton coming from the left, shifting to the center," he said.
"We'll be channel surfing in 2000," Powell predicted, "because it's going to take awhile for this new vision to emerge."
Still, he urged voters to give new ideas a chance to work. "You have to be patient," Powell said.
Powell again disavowed interest in running for vice president.
"I am not seeking any political office in 1996 at any level," Powell said at a news conference before his speech.
Powell added that he saw nothing to change his decision, announced last November, that he will not run for office this year.
"I really tried to speak in clear, consistent, coherent terms last year. But this two-letter, one-syllable word seems to get misinterpreted all the time," he said. "For 1996, the decision's been made."
Powell also said it's premature to say some Republicans are in a "funk" about Sen. Bob Dole's chances of unseating President Clinton. "I think it's a little early to start funking us out," he said.
"Bob Dole went through one very, very demanding campaign season for the primary, and I think he demonstrated a great deal of energy, a great deal of resilience. And he succeeded in beating off about eight or nine challengers," said Powell.
He said the Kansas Republican "has a difficult task now being both presidential candidate and the leader of the Senate."
"But he's demonstrated in the past that he's a leader, and he'll be able to meet those challenges," he said.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
`You can't say no'
Former Vice President Dan Quayle suggests Colin Powell could be talked into joining the GOP ticket in the fall if Sen. Bob Dole truly wants the retired general as his running mate. And Quayle suggested that he, former President George Bush and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, would help Dole make such a case to Powell, should that be Dole's decision. "Assuming that he wants a future in politics, you cannot say `no' to your presidential nominee," Quayle told The Associated Press.