I think an endorsement of Romney would have been damaging to Obama.
Even money odds that Rush Limbaugh comes out and says it’s because Powell is black. One in two chance that Sarah Palin denounces Powell’s endorsement as a “shuck and jive”.
Yeah, that’s just because he’s black.
Don’t bet on it. Neither Limbaugh nor Palin are Democrats.
Do you guys deny that Black public figures are under pressure to support Obama (see e.g. Stacey Dash), or do you just have some intuition that this does not impact Colin Powell?
“OMG! A Black Conservative endorses Obama” would have been the perfect title for this thread. 
The latter.
I agree with the OP - this won’t have a huge beneficial effect for Obama but will negate a potential negative one (Powell jumping ship would be a signal to moderates that it is “OK” to do so).
On preview: yeah, Czarcasm, that’s a missed opportunity right there. Maybe we can get a mod to change it. 
You should read what I was responding to.
Did you perhaps miss the part where Palin used exactly that phrase (“shuck and jive”) to describe the Obama administration’s response to the attack in Benghazi?
Based on what?
The post was not directed to you.
The fact that he worked for multiple Republican administrations and strongly considered running for president as a Republican.
Random celebrity feels pressure in Hollywood to support a black candidate? Plausible.
Former General, National Security Adviser, Charmain of the JCOS, and Secretary of State under a GOP president feels pressure to support a black candidate? Unlikely, IMO.
Furthermore, the (likely unintended) consequence of your claim is that no black person can be legitimately supporting Obama - they are all responding to social pressure. That is an untenable position. Some black voters? Probably. But if any black voters could be considered “strong willed” enough to be immune to such pressure, Colin Powell would have to be near the top of that list.
If so, Rush will be late to the party. The umbrage by conservatives on Twitter is as swift and predictable as it is disgusting.
What bearing does that have? That just means that he would ordinarily be inclined to support a Republican. In this case (as in 2008, IIRC) he did not. Question is why. One theory is that Obama is so much a better candidate than Romney. The alternative is that he feels pressure to not break ranks with the Black community.
Do he and his family live in or feel a part of the Black community? There is a lot of feeling about this, and I don’t think he gets a free pass. (There was actually some blowback in 2008 for Black politicians who supported Hillary. I don’t think this impacts Powell, because his political career has been as a Republican, but I note this as a demonstration of the fact that there is a racial solidarity angle at play here.)
90% of Blacks support Democrats in any event. But if you see a Black person who is ostensibly likely to support a Republican supporting Obama instead, then it’s more likely it’s a racial issue.
Can’t be sure, of course. There are any number of people who are not lockstep ideologically, and who vary their votes by election. But ISTM that this is a more likely explanation. Certainly it’s hard to be certain that this is not the case.
John McCain isn’t happy about this. I think he’s still pissed about 2008.
This is one way of saying “There is no evidence for a theory that’s being offered just to denigrate Powell,” which of course is what’s being done. Powell is more than capable of explaining his endorsement.
I was thinking that I’d also like to hear Colin Powell disavow the lies he told at the UN in 2003, but a quick web search informed me that he already did.
John McCain seems to be perpetually pissed about everything these days.
Right? Not to mention that as the guy who picked Sarah Palin to potentially be one heartbeat away from the presidency, his opinion has zero credibility.
Screw McCain. What a sore loser. He still can’t accept that the country didn’t want him for president. Boo fucking hoo. For an old fart, he’s got a lot of growing up to do.
Quote from that not in my original post: