After months of intense media hype about Colin Powell, pundit Joe Klein carried the prevalent spin to its dizzying conclusion.
Stature is everything.
Such superlatives were routine in coverage of the Powell boom in the fall of 1995, with journalists regularly treating the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the personification of integrity. As Powell seemed poised to enter the 1996 presidential race, he took on near super-human qualities, while others were just faded mortals. Even clear-eyed journalists had their vision clouded by Powell fever. Subdued journalists filled an Alexandria, Va. banquet hall as the four-star general, in a dark blue suit, stepped to a podium to make official the decision that had been leaked by his aides earlier in the day. He would not run for president.