Colin Powell, a President for All Seasons : The campaign could be a call to arms to end poverty--with work, not welfare.

Memorandum to Colin Powell, from a fan.

As you may have noticed, you’re on the cover of Newsweek. The headline blares: “Will Colin Powell Run for President?” Inside, citing polls showing you 15 points ahead of President Clinton, columnist Joe Klein predicts that you “won’t be able to resist the ultimate challenge.”

Congratulations--you’ve got the Big Mo. Now what do you do? Remember what happened to another larger-than-life icon, Ross Perot. In 1992, riding an earlier wave of public revulsion with politics as usual, he was ahead of both Clinton and George Bush. But as the voters focused on the substance of his style, they could see that Perot was, as they say in Texas, all hat and no cattle, and so he fizzled.

If you are interested in running, you’re going to have to start talking about “the issues.” You say you were fighting for your country when those other guys were safely stateside in wonky grad school? Too bad. You’re on their terrain now, with new rules of engagement. You have two ways to proceed. Option A is to start reading new manuals. Get briefed on everything from capital gains to the Superfund to managed competition. Does that sound as dull as trajectory calculations in artillery school? Sure, but remember, reporters’ questions are as clever as a Viet Cong booby trap: They earn their stars by helping statesmen wannabes blow themselves up.

Consider Option B: Pick one big issue that you already understand, that builds on your own experience and moral authority and about which you can speak from the heart--without cue cards! That’s what the last hero general who got elected President did. Dwight (“I will go to Korea”) Eisenhower was a leader above petty politics, the man with the plan for defending the Free World. He carried 39 states.

The Cold War is over. As America looks inward, the biggest problem we see is poverty, the underclass and associated ills from crime-hyped flight from the cities to the sense that inequality and despair are eroding our collective soul.

Two years ago, Clinton said we should “end welfare as we know it.” That sounded good then, but nothing’s happened since. The Republicans are no better--they’d rather attack Murphy Brown than suggest something what would work. That’s what would work-- work . Sixty years ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt said welfare was “a narcotic.” FDR’s idea was that the unemployed were underutilized assets, not permanent victims. So he set up the Civilian Conservation Corps to offer honest toil to anyone who wanted it. Outside of Washington, that’s what people still believe in. This isn’t a right-wing country or a left-wing country. Heartland America still believes, as Roosevelt did, in “the moral and spiritual value” of labor.

This is where you come in. You grew up in the South Bronx--man, you’ve been there. Your own story is a testament to the power of hard work. You had the chance to serve your country--and you were transformed in the process. So why not extend that opportunity to the next generation of poor minority kids?

Clinton has set up a weenie national-service program that will pay 20,000 “volunteers” to be interns at Planned Parenthood. That’s no solution. We need a million kids out of the ghetto and into the fresh air. The old CCC planted 3 billion trees. If you decide to keep Al Gore around, you could double that total and launch the recycling equivalent of Desert Storm. We can use all those shut-down military bases and laid-off drill sergeants, not as jailers, but as guides to a new life for the unlucky. As Jack Kemp says, there must be something in between more gun control on the left and building more prisons on the right.

Is the CCC “Big Government”? The issue isn’t big vs. small, it’s smart vs. dumb. Smart Government should do a few things well, rather than a lot of things badly. If you ask, both Jesse Jackson and Bill Bennett would jump at the chance to help you. They’ve been wrestling with the problem of discipline and virtue for some time; only you could unite them on the same all-star team.

This could be your message: Save America. The other issues are potato peels by comparison. Do the right thing. Generate a groundswell. Show people that you can trump the static stupid two-party debate by pointing toward a better way. You’ll win in a landslide.