The American Dream in Living Color.(Colin L. Powell)(Brief Article)

Colin Powell's status as Secretary of State, the designated representative of the most powerful nation on earth, totally supersedes his color--at least outside the United States.

In America, the view is not only more parochial but considerably more convoluted. Among blacks he is an esteemed role model. As Eddie Williams, head of the Washington-based think tank Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, observed, "Our history causes us to take special pride in those who have made it."

But it is not just black Americans who take pride in Powell; 83 percent of Americans see him in a favorable light, according to a Gallup poll taken in December, shortly after he was appointed secretary of State. When his predecessor, Madeleine Albright, got the job, only 36 percent of Americans approved of her. Warren Christopher, who preceded Albright, didn't do much better; only 41 percent approved of him.

Why is Powell so admired? His military record, while admirable, hardly accounts for the scope of his appeal. Nor is his popularity connected in any real way to his political philosophy. In 1995, before he even stated a party preference, he was seen as a serious contender for the presidency. Interestingly enough, his popularity was higher among whites than blacks.

Clearly, what Americans love so much about Colin Powell is not so much the man as what he represents. To white Americans, he is a welcome alternative to such loudmouths as Jesse Jackson, who always seems to be brimming with racial outrage and complaints. Powell is not interested in making whites feel guilty. Instead, he embodies the American dream and is happy to show his gratitude to the country that made his success possible. He is, in short, a walking rebuttal to angry blacks who blame whites for their troubles.

His appeal to blacks is a bit more complicated. Part of it, as Williams suggests, has to do with Powell's having "made it," but it also has to do with his taking a stand on the matter of racial justice.

In his speech at the Republican National Convention last year, Powell spoke poignantly of the nation's unfinished work on race, and he sharply questioned criminal-justice policies that have put 2 million Americans behind bars. ("Most of them are men, and the majority of those men are minorities," he pointed out.) He has consistently acknowledged his own debt to affirmative action and made a point of speaking out (albeit selectively) on other racial issues.