Russell Chapman wrote:
>
> Julia Thompson questioned:
>
> >>Hell, half the population of the USA hadn't even heard of
> >>Colin Powell pre 9/11.
> >>
> >
> >Do you have a cite for that statistic? I find it hard to believe. I
> >think the percentage of the population of the US that knew who Colin
> >Powell was was greater than 50%. But I could be wrong.
> >
> Hell, no - I was being extremely flippant (and quite possibly using an
> expression which is taken differently on the other side of the Pacific).
> But the same thing applies now - Since 9/11 he has become such a public
> figure that it seems inconceivable that he was ever unknown to anybody.
> Who would have been Al Gore's S of S? How well known was he in Y2000?
>
> What I was trying to convey was that significant demographic segments of
> the population in a country with optional voting simply don't care about
> political figures beyond their immediate precint (ie they know their
> mayor, their governor, and their president ) whereas the kind of keen
> enquiring minds that represent the US contingent of Brin-L take more
> interest in what's going on around them. Even though Powell has a high
> (and favourable) profile now, it seems to be largely a result of the
> last 2 years work, rather than his long and distinguished career away
> from the spotlights or with JCS during the Gulf War.
Al Gore was reasonably well known. He got himself in the news for this
or that on a regular basis. Vice Presidents of the US have been fairly
widely known as of late.
I'd argue that the majority of the people in the US who know Powell now
and think favorably of him were aware of him before 2000 and thought
favorably of him then. His tenure with JCS during the Gulf War did a
*lot*, and in the mid-to-late 1990s a *lot* of people were wishing he'd
run for president, so they could vote for him.
Being in the spotlight lately hasn't hurt, but it hasn't made the same
sort of impact on his recognition and favorable rating as the Gulf War
did.
> And another only vaguely related question - regarding his colour - would
> coming from a Jamaican family be seen as the same as coming from, say, a
> Louisana African American family? I have no idea how West Indian blacks
> are seen in the US.
He's black, he's successful, he seems to be an all-around nice guy. I
don't know how much the West Indian vs. roots back to slavery before the
Civil War makes a difference in terms of general perception. I didn't
know he came from a Jamaican family until well after I'd gotten the good
impression of him. I can't speak for anyone else on this, though.
Julia
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