Word: alma
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This was not the first time Alma and the family had wrestled with hard choices about service and sacrifice. "She has been down this road many times before," Michael says. "So has the family. When I was born, the man was in Vietnam. I met him when I was almost one year old. Four and a half years later he went back. Not knowing whether we're going to hear any day that he was never coming back--that's a real aspect of military family life. So how we went about this decision was unique, but not foreign...
...everyone now knows too well, those instincts are, above all, cautious. Campaign veterans observe that deciding to run for President is fundamentally an irrational act. Colin Powell, for all his candor and appealing humanity, has never been given to irrational acts. He decided to marry Alma only when she threatened to break up with him as he was heading for Vietnam. And so he went about weighing the White House bid very carefully. One of Powell's 13 Rules is "Check small things." He reviewed every pro and con, every poll, talked to a wide circle of friends and advisers...
...final week Powell tightened his circle of advisers to a group of three: Alma, Armitage and Duberstein. At one meeting early in the week, Powell was close enough to a yes to discuss the creation of an exploratory committee. Duberstein talked to two lawyers about how to set it up. The group also considered talking to Charles Kelly, who ran Citizens for Colin Powell, about tapping into his organization, but they decided to hold off until Powell was firmer about saying...
...friend, not a cheerleader. "I can't help you, buddy," he said. "It's the most frustrating thing in my life that I can't. If you make a decision, I can help you. But in the end this is your decision--not mine, not your kids', not even Alma...
...that if any member of your family is against your running, don't do it. Powell knew that for the first time in 33 years, his family had a husband and father, someone who was around for the grandchildren. In the final days, it was also becoming clearer that Alma's opposition was "deep, heartfelt, immutable," says Armitage. "And without his family's being squared away, I don't see how he could develop the necessary passion...