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Sorry if posted--Colin Powell endorses Obama!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/19/colin.powell/index.html

(CNN)?-- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's campaign, such as the campaign's attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers."I think that's inappropriate. I understand what politics is about -- I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for," he said.Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.Powell said he has some concerns about the direction of the Republican Party, adding that it has "moved more to the right than I would like to see it."

In regard to the financial crisis, which Powell called the candidates' "final exam," Powell said?McCainappeared unsteady in dealing with it, while Obama had excelled in handling the situation.

"Obama?displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge," Powell said."He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president," he said.During the campaign, Powell has met with both candidates and said he has a lot of respect for McCain. He said Sunday that he thinks both candidates are qualified to be president."It isn't easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that," Powell said.Speaking on Fox News Sunday, McCain said he respects and admires Powell, and the announcement "doesn't come as a surprise.""I'm also very pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state -- Secretaries [Henry] Kissinger, [James] Baker, [Lawrence] Eagleburger, and [Alexander] Haig -- and I'm proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired Army generals and admirals," McCain said.Powell served as Secretary of State under President Bush from 2001 to 2005.The possibility of a Powell endorsement has been rumored for several months.On August 13, Powell's office denied a report on Fox News by commentator Bill Kristol that Powell had decided to publicly back Obama at the Democratic National Convention.Powell himself brushed off queries on any potential presidential nod but told ABC News in August that he would not be going to Denver, Colorado, for the convention.Back in February, Powell told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he was weighing an endorsement of a Democratic or independent candidate.Powell has offered praise for Obama, calling him an "exciting person on the political stage.""He has energized a lot of people in America," said Powell. "He has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is worth listening to and seeing what he stands for."The former general, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the Bush administration, noted that the next president will need to work to restore America's standing in the world.Powell gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in support of George W. Bush in 2000.

Powell said Sunday that he has no plans to campaign for Obama.?

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Re: Sorry if posted--Colin Powell endorses Obama!

  • I'm not terribly surprised.  If I remember correctly, Powell was pretty moderate....but then again ...also if I remember correctly.... so was  McCain. 
    And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
  • Yay! I'm watching Meet The Press now. Powell seems very displeased with the current state of the Republican party. Smart conservatives for Obama!
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  • imagegtown_bride:
    Smart conservatives for Obama!

    Angry

    And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
  • The news about the endorsement broke right before I showered, so I wound up skipping church to watch Meet the Press. Do I get a gold-plated dork card now?

    I thought Powell was awesome! I completely agree with his discussion of the narrowing of the Republican party. I loved his dicussion of the "Obama is a Muslim" murmurs - that the right response isn't just, "No, he isn't Muslim," but instead is, "So what if he is?" I thought he made a GREAT point about this stuff getting on Al Jazeera and killing us around the world. He also denounced Michelle Bachmann's recent craziness about members of Congress being "anti-American," although he didn't mention her name. GmcG and I were secretly hoping for Powell to be Obama's VP nomination even though we knew it would never happen. So I'm pretty pumped about this!

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  • imagegtown_bride:
    Yay! I'm watching Meet The Press now. Powell seems very displeased with the current state of the Republican party. Smart conservatives for Obama!

    Thanks a lot.Sad

  • I know gtown personally and I know she wouldn't have said that to mean anything cruel to people on this board.

    I read it as "yay that Obama has smart conservatives supporting him" as opposed to say, Sean Hannity.  Not "conservatives who are smart vote Obama and idiots vote McCain."

    If someone said of Lieberman's support of McCain, "smart democrats for McCain" I would think they just had a high opinion of Lieberman, not that they thought other democrats were dumb.  KWIM?

    Anyway, I'm very pleased.  The Post article on it made clear that Powell was very uncomfortable with the decision and it seems he's given this a lot of thought and wrestled with it pretty deeply, and seemed genuinely conflicted and really liked McCain too.  It's nice to see him come out in political life again.  We need more thoughtful leaders like him.

  • I wonder if this will have any effect on undecideds.  Will it give credence to Obama's foreign policy prowess?  Or will it be seen as blacks supporting blacks?
    image
  • imageSibil:
    I wonder if this will have any effect on undecideds.? Will it give credence to Obama's foreign policy prowess?? Or will it be seen as blacks supporting blacks?

    I kind of worry that it will be seen as Colin Powell only supporting Obama because they're both black. ?But I hope most people know that Powell is honorable and smart enough to be better than that. ?I hope it does speak to Obama's abilities and prowess!?

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  • imageSibil:
    I wonder if this will have any effect on undecideds.  Will it give credence to Obama's foreign policy prowess?  Or will it be seen as blacks supporting blacks?

    Apparently Powell actually donated the maximum ($2300?) to the McCain campaign last year - he was really going back and forth about who to support recently.  Palin put him over the edge.  If he just wanted to support a black candidate, he could have done so from day one.

     

    image
    image

    I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.
  • This is fantastic.  I'm so glad a prominent Republican is standing up against the tactics that MPC is employing.

    imageColin.Powell:

    And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about. This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign.  But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist.  Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?  And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted.  What they're trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings.  And I think that's inappropriate.

    Now, I understand what politics is all about.  I know how you can go after one another, and that's good.  But I think this goes too far.  And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow.  It's not what the American people are looking for.  And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me.  And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift.  I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration.  I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian.  He's always been a Christian.  But the really right answer is, what if he is?  Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America.  Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?  Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

    I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine.  It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave.  And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone.  And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death.  He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith.  And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey.  He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.  Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way.  And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know.  But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

    So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president.  But which is the president that we need now?  Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time?  And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.  I think he is a transformational figure.  He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

    Bolding is mine.  I pretty much want to bold the entire thing. 

     

  • imageepphd:

    Apparently Powell actually donated the maximum ($2300?) to the McCain campaign last year - he was really going back and forth about who to support recently.? Palin put him over the edge.? If he just wanted to support a black candidate, he could have done so from day one.

    ?

    I know he said this, but Powell's endorsement makes a much bigger difference today, when it can suck up the next day or two of news cycle, than it would have a few months ago.?

    Personally, I agreed with everything Powell said on MTP (R party is narrower, campaign has been ugly, etc.). ?But I also noticed the complete absence of a single policy position he agrees with Obama on. ?Thats how I feel too unfortunately.

    7/21/2007 :)

    imageimageimage



    Deductive reasoning isn't a conservative or liberal attribute. ~epphd
  • Woohoo! I've been at work all day but I have MTP taped at home. I can't wait to watch! I always had such great respect for CP (except for that whole lying to the UN thing) and I'm so glad he's made the right choice. Wink
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • Meh.  I left Powell's fan base when he decided to prostitute himself to the extremist Bush administration's incoherent desire to go to war, despite his strong private misgivings about the strength of the Bush administration's case.  A large part of Obama's platform is that he was too smart to fall for their shenanigans (perpetrated in no small part by Powell) and opposed the war from the outset.  What exactly does this endorsement bring him?  It's on the same plane as being endorsed by Donald Rumsfeld, IMO.   The time for Powell to speak out against extremist antics the Republican party was long ago.  I agree there was a time when Powell's word and reputation meant something, but for me at least, that time is over. He is way too late to this party.
  • Thanks, ESF. Yes, what I meant is that I consider Powell to be a smart consevative, so I'm pleased he's supporting Obama. No offense intended to McCain supporters, many of whom are also smart conservatives.
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  • imageBlackMamba*:
    Meh.  I left Powell's fan base when he decided to prostitute himself to the extremist Bush administration's incoherent desire to go to war, despite his strong private misgivings about the strength of the Bush administration's case.  A large part of Obama's platform is that he was too smart to fall for their shenanigans (perpetrated in no small part by Powell) and opposed the war from the outset.  What exactly does this endorsement bring him?  It's on the same plane as being endorsed by Donald Rumsfeld, IMO.   The time for Powell to speak out against extremist antics the Republican party was long ago.  I agree there was a time when Powell's word and reputation meant something, but for me at least, that time is over. He is way too late to this party.

    I completely agree with you about CP now, BM*, but I think a lot of "middle america" holds tremendous respect for CP, particularly in the realm of foreign policy.

    BabyFruit Ticker
  • imagegtown_bride:
    Thanks, ESF. Yes, what I meant is that I consider Powell to be a smart consevative, so I'm pleased he's supporting Obama. No offense intended to McCain supporters, many of whom are also smart conservatives.

    Cool.  Sorry for the misinterprtation.

  • imageyeah4me:
    imageepphd:


     


    But I also noticed the complete absence of a single policy position he agrees with Obama on.  Thats how I feel too unfortunately.

    Forgive me, but I don't see how this statement is relevant. While Powell didn't point to a specific proposal (nor was he asked to) he emphatically made it clear that Obama is better for this country on both foreign policy, economic, and judicial issues. It's disingenuous to suggest that he didn't single-out a certain specific plan when he practically blew kisses to everyhting that Obama stands for.

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