Novak: Powell Will Endorse Obama

Robert Novak, in a column on "Obamacons" (Obama-backing Republicans), says he expects a high-profile defection:

Neither Powell, first-term secretary of state for George W. Bush, nor Hagel, retiring after two terms as a U.S. senator from Nebraska, has endorsed Obama. Hagel probably never will. Powell probably will enter Obama's camp at a time of his own choosing. The best bet is that neither of the two, both of whom supported President Bush in 2000 and 2004, will back John McCain in 2008.

Powell praised Obama back in February, saying, "Mr. Obama has done an incredible job . . . He has energized a lot of people in America. He has energized a lot of people around the world." Some have even suggested Obama pick Powell as his VP.

Comments

[Diplomacy]

I have always, and still do have a very high regard and respect for Colin Powell.

I will never forget the day Colin Powell went before the United Nations. I watched that broadcast live on that day. I saw a very uncomfortable Secretary of State, Colin Powell, make the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. There were the charts with the trucks that contained weapons (nuclear & chemical) that could be moved & hidden throughout Iraq. I still to this day believe that Colin Powell did not want to make that case, didn't believe the intelligence, but was outnumbered by the WAR Cabinet.

Colin Powell did the right thing by resigning & distancing himself from Bush/Cheney Administration in 2004. He is still regarded in very high esteem by many around the WORLD.

Colin Powell is now a free man to vote & endorse whomever he supports. He will make up his own mind, and when he's made a decision he'll let us all know.

Colin Powell is a smart, smart man. And so is Barack Obama.

[Roci]

While any book he might write will be an interesting historical perspective, I won't pay to read this one. He'll make millions when he decides to start talking, but all the money the US can print won't buy him back the credibility he has lost by not having stood up and stood out sooner (before he lied to the UN) from those around The Village Idiot.

If you think Scott Mc Mouthpiece has taken a roasting over his book and why he didn't stand up sooner, cover your ears on this one after someone gets to write Powell a big check. He can use the cash for lots of things but a rebate on his integrity isn't one of them.

Roci

[belief08]

You're just a sore loser Repug. He will be welcomed and his endorsement will mean something. With all the underhanded crap that Karl Rove is admonishing on the democrats and he's dtill walking around, I don't see you casting any stones at him.

This is why I know you're a disgruntled Repug. Get a life and look at the issues that before this nation, or are you soooo wealthy that it doesn't matter to you that our economy is spiraling out of control at the hands of "your" Repug. President.

[IRepTheKing]

DITTO!

[brabra]

I CAN NOT WAIT TO READ THE BOOK POWELL WILL SOMEDAY WRITE ABOUT WHY HE QUIT AS SECRETARY OF STATE. I FEEL THAT HE DID IT BECAUSE OF REMORSE FOR A WAR THAT HE KNEW WAS WAGED AGAINST IRAQ FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS. AS A MEMBER OF THE BUSH CABINET HE HAD TO BE AN INSIDE MAN, BUT HE NO LONGER OBLIGATED TO THIS. AT LEAST HE HAS A CONSCIOUS. WHEN THIS BOOK COMES OUT IT WILL TAKE THE WORLD BY STORM. AFTER ALL POWELL IS A CREDIBLE SOURCE. WHY WILL HE ENDORSE OBAMA? TO STOP A SECOND TERM OF BUSH.

[pibble]

I can't wait to read the book you will someday write about how you found the caps-lock key.

[Bulbul]

What is this headline is about and why it is so important what Powell thinks and whom wants to endorse. He is the one sold his own country to a bankruptcy , for a War, based on false data.
Barack Obama does not need Powell.

[belief08]

This coming from a Repug. He is more credible than the rest of Bush's administration, especially that a$$hole K. Rove. That person is a ticking Nuclear time bomb waiting to explode over this nation. You have the nerve to criticize Powell when you have Rove acting like he is above the law and Bush doesn't admonish him because of it.

They will all get their comeupins soon enough, that's why so many of the Repugs are resigning. They see the writing on the walls. The writing spells out; President Barack Obama is in the House.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Powell is still a Republican Hack who did not have the courage to do the right thing for his country when it mattered, who cares if his guilty conscience is pushing him away from his own political party, the man is discredited and has no moral authority, so save your endorsements for those greedy bunch of hypocrites you have been hanging out with for the past 12 years.

[belief08]

Like you would come forward if you were in the same situation. All of you can lay blame, but if you were in that same place you don't know what the he$$ you would do. And I wouldn't believe you if you did say you would tell. There is no talking to that spineless weasel we call Pres. especially is Rove is in one ear and other war baiters are in the other ear. Are they going to listen to the black man when he says that this is wrong and I disapprove? Hence the UN speech and his resignation.

[SamanthaR]

Exactly right. It seems, from what I've read, that Powell really tried to do the right thing with whatever power he had. I think we need to get overthe fact that he, like about a third of the population, is a registered republican. There are worse sins.

[Rosanneofpgh]

Obama doesnt need the traitor powell's endorsement. In fact, I think it would be detrimental to his campaign. Maybe thats why powell will do it.

If Obama is so stupid as to pick the traitor powell for his running mate, I will not vote in the election. It would be too much to expect me to vote for a man who I consider to be a traitor to this country.

[byrdlegs]

If I were OBAMA, I wouldnt make a big deal if POWELL would endorse him. Just the sight of POWELL standing in front of the UN knowing telling all those lies makes me sick. Obama doesnt need any of the republican pukes. Getting an endorsement from POWELL would be like having Jeff Dalmer endorsing your restrauant.

[kadene]

Who cares whether Powell endorses or not....Barack Obama needs none of those old recycled Republicans. Look what they've done to America. Just look how they've massacred our once prosperous land.

[jukesgrrl]

He certainly needs votes and public support from every place he can get them. If any Republicans can come to their senses, they should be welcomed. I'm not saying they should be put on the ticket (as in the case of Hagel), but if they want to vote for Obama, more power to them. Let's take their money, too!

[dl63]

There's no place for Powell in a Democratic administration. He had his opportunity to make a difference in the Bush administration, and he failed. He failed to stand up for principle; he failed to stand up for right. The republicans have to change their derisive politics before they can sit in a Democratic administration. Having a repulican, any republican, on a demoncratic administration is a sure way to keep democrats home.

[Pupster]

He stood up on several occasions and was outnumbered.

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

Seems to me you're judging Powell for the very thing the democrats have also been doing for the past eight years. And that includes Obama.

[NewRiver]

Touche. Well played WomanInOrangeSweater, well played indeed.

[TotobiAyokoh23]

Colin Powell is a very good person whose political innocence was abused by the politricks of the Bush administration. The lacerny of deception by the Bush White House is ochestrated by the secretive few in a manner elusive enough to even outwit the Secretary of State. That is to say, the invasion and current occupation of Iraq did not only trample upon the democratic proclivities of the American people; it also left in its trail a lot of high-powered victims including Colin Powell. He must be forgiven.

[John51]

What is all this talk of , "Forgiving Powell." Who are we to grant forgiveness or otherwise? Sen. Obama is just another politician, as is evidenced by his recent betrayal of the progressives on the FISA Bill, and he will do what is best for him. His recent actions demonstrate that he is neither strong, principled, nor ethical, and that he will do whatever it takes to gain the presidency. In light of his recent actions, I would bet money that he would sell his grandmother to gain one extra vote.

[DontBeFoolish]

With all do respect. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, SHUT-UP.

[NewRiver]

Ah John51, see this is the problem when a party does not properly vet their own candidate, but rather fawn all over the "hope and change" rhetoric.

Barry Obama; meet the new boss, same as the old boss...

[msopine]

If Colin Powell really did not believe in the validity of the evidence he presented to the UN and Congress and went ahead and presented it anyway, he did himself and his country a horrible disservice. When Cyrus Vance was shown the plan that President Carter's generals came up with to try and free the hostages from Iran, Vance told President Carter that the couldn't support the plan and it wouldn't work. Then he wrote his resignation, put it in a sealed envelope and handed it to the President saying it would take effect as soon as the rescue attempt was made whether it worked or failed. That's what you do when you have character and principles. In order to stay close to power, Powell knowingly sold our allies and this country a bill of goods. He'll have to live with that stain on his career and reputation for the rest of his life.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

All Colin Powell has to do is come clean,he would be forgiven.

[Krikkit]

You should read James Bamford's book, "A Pretext for War."

Bamford talks about Colin Powell's efforts to push back against the fallacies written into the neocon script before appearing in front of the UN, but in the end whether through fatigue or from a recognition that he'd taken it as far as it would go, he fell for reporting some of their cherry-picked "intelligence" and so played a pivital role in selling the invasion.

In hind-sight, I'm sure he regrets having done so and with stucking it out with the Bush administration as long as he did.

[boddhisatva66]

The problem with this comment is that hind sight is always 20/20; he should have had the FORESIGHT of what would come of lies and murder for oil. A disgrace, is what he will be remembered as.

[belief08]

separatingwheatfromchaff ;

You people make me sick. JUST SHUT UPPPPPPPPP! To hear you tell it, "NO" black person will ever good enough for the Presidency. While this country for centuries, never elected a black President but, look where this country is today under your command; spiraling, spiraling out of control.

While this current administration has Rove advising them, this is a guy that clearly should be in prison. But, he's accepted by you, you've had more elected White House officials carted off to prison. Yet, Obama isn't experienced enough to run this country, by your standards. And, you've done such a wonderful job since it has beeb in your command.

You've had all the so called experience in the world running this country and where are we today; where? Outraged about gas prices, foreclosures, education, high cost of healthcare and a senseless war, that has been validated by a Bush cabinet member as being senseless.

You need to get off your high horses and see that you're not as perfect as you think you are. At least Obama says he isn't perfect and he doesn't claim to be.

[byrdlegs]

Hip-hip-hooray ! No one ever thought Jackie Robinson would make it in baseball. No one ever thought Tiger Woods would be the sensation he is to the world of golf. Only a republican with a crystall ball can judge a person without giving him/her a few at bats. DANG, these republicans are good. And if you really study the state of this Nation, the GOPERS have done such a wonderful job running this country. Lets have another 4 more years of the BUSH administration so we can join all the other 3rd world nations.

[DontBeFoolish]

For all of you stating that you won't forgive Powell, or he has blood on his hands because of the Iraq war, I say this to you. If you voted for Bush, in 2000 or 2004, you have the same blood on your hands and are just as responsible. If you agreed to attack Irag because the politicians siad so, then you once again have the same blood on your hands. At least this man had the common sense to QUIT.

[Pupster]

Powell's one of the few voices who tried to prevent Bush from going into Iraq. He knew from the first Gulf War that it was a mistake. Remember his admonition, You break you buy it.

Unfortunately, the neocons led by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Pearl, Feith had Bush's year. Not the State Department, who were totally against it.

[DontBeFoolish]

Would be an AUSSUME VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. A Repub with ethics.

[Krikkit]

Can't . He lost his rep in the Bush invasion fiasco.

[sufi66]

Obama should tell this man with blood on his hands to take a hike.

[toocoldout]

I disagree. If he tells Powell to take a hike then he has to tell every Democrat who actually AUTHORIZED the war to take a hike, every Democrat who voted against the Levin Ammendment (diplomacy) to take a hike, because they're far more to blame than Powell is. They actually had REAL power. Powell did not have any power, he 'wasn't part of congress and couldn't vote. I guess Powell was guilty of selling the war, but the best sales pitch of all was from the respected and famous Democrats in congress who gave the war BIPARTISAN legitimacy. And whether the war was sold to the American people or not, the president had official authority from congress so would have gone to war whether it was popular or not. It's not popular now, and yet it continues.

[Pupster]

So true. Powell is less culpable for the war than many Dems and many of us, the public who sat back passively.