# Colin Powell endorses Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636 "2008-10-19T13:25:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/121 "2008-10-20T14:06:59Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > I’d click on that link, but I am afraid I would lose my soul. I don’t go to that site, but just for your information, there are 544 pages of comments and about 50 comments per page. As your doctor (not really), I’d advise you to avoid the place. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/122 "2008-10-20T14:23:20Z")
Isn’t it possible–probable even?–that Obama asked Powell to hold off on an endorsement until he needed to capture a few media cycles? Powell said he decided after the Conventions. Arguably, Obama wanted to wait until there were no more pre-determined news cycles (debates, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/123 "2008-10-20T14:31:40Z")
That’s what I said earlier. Powell said he only decided to go public last week, didn’t tell the two campaigns his plans in advance. I’m not sure I believe that, but anyway it’s what he said. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/124 "2008-10-20T14:34:09Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Isn’t it possible–probable even?–that Obama asked Powell to hold off on an endorsement until he needed to capture a few media cycles? Powell said he decided after the Conventions. Arguably, Obama wanted to wait until there were no more pre-determined news cycles (debates, etc.). It’s possible, but unlikely, since Senator Obama has said publicly that Gen. Powell did not consult with him prior to making this announcement, and I believe this to be true because he said it. On the endorsement: this is huge. It’s motivated, I believe, primarily by conviction, because it’s obviously NOT self-serving politically. I believe General Powell to be a man to top-notch intellect and integrity. Unlike many commentators on this board, who believed he lied to the U.N., I believe that Powell simply relied on intel that turned out to be bad. I thought that last week, and following his endorsement this weekend, I feel even more strongly that he’s a man of intellectual courage and strong integrity. The only thing about this event that pisses me off is the babbling of idiots on both sides. In the conservative blabbosphere, it’s amazing how much respect has suddenly vanished for Powell; in the equivalent liberal blabbosphere, suddenly he’s redeemed himself. Nonsense, on both fronts. He’s a great man who has said what he’s thinking, and they’re thoughts that have surely crossed the minds of many reasonable conservatives. I applaud Powell, and… wow. What a bombshell! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/125 "2008-10-20T14:50:32Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s motivated, I believe, primarily by conviction, because it’s obviously NOT self-serving politically. Just to be a devil’s advocate: Powell is 71; if he wants another senior government position it probably has to be in the next administration. And Obama will very likely be looking to add some kind of moderate Republican to his cabinet. So Powell could have something to gain, there. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/126 "2008-10-20T15:20:50Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s motivated, I believe, primarily by conviction, because it’s obviously NOT self-serving politically. It’s not? [Obama: Powell will have a role in administration.](http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/20/obama1020.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/127 "2008-10-20T15:25:31Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > It’s not? [Obama: Powell will have a role in administration.](http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/20/obama1020.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab) Well, OK. I concede that it might be, but it’s a big roll of the dice. (Assuming that we still accept that Obama and Powell did not communicate directly or by proxy, that is – Powell would have to go out on a limb and endorse, hoping he’d be rewarded?) I still say the most likely explanation is that this was not motivated by political calculation for gain. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/128 "2008-10-20T15:36:32Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Just to be a devil’s advocate: Powell is 71; if he wants another senior government position it probably has to be in the next administration. And Obama will very likely be looking to add some kind of moderate Republican to his cabinet. So Powell could have something to gain, there. I highly doubt he’s motivated by personal interest. Powell was arguably the most popular (political) figure in America in 1996 and 2000; the Republican nomination was his for the taking. If he accepts a post in the next administration, it will be because he feels he can serve the nation, not because he wants to get his name out there. While I don’t share **Bricker** ’s attitude toward his work in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, I do believe he’s not motivated by personal ambition. I also frankly couldn’t care less if his endorsement is race-based. Black people have been getting the shaft in America (and most other places) for a couple of centuries. I strongly believe that a black President would be the single best thing that could happen for African-Americans, in terms of challenging established notions of what it means to be black and American. That said, I don’t think it is; Powell laid out a fairly convincing rationale, and his personal politics have always seemed more in line with Democratic ideals. He sort of reminds me of Zell Miller backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/129 "2008-10-20T15:48:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > He sort of reminds me of Zell Miller backwards. Who I also admire, and for the same reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/130 "2008-10-20T15:51:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I highly doubt he’s motivated by personal interest. Powell was arguably the most popular (political) figure in America in 1996 and 2000; the Republican nomination was his for the taking. Obama versus Powell would have been vastly more interesting, if not more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/131 "2008-10-20T15:56:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Who I also admire, and for the same reasons. You admire him for being in the wrong party? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/132 "2008-10-20T16:08:37Z")
Personally, I think Powell endorsed Obama to sway the moderate/independants into jumping full swing to Obama. Shifting yet again the tide to Obama…Powell knew his endorsement would bring over some republicans - no question in my mind about that. Powell also knew McCain would not be the best choice in 2 weeks and he clearly stated why he will be voting for Obama, and people will follow his lead. On NPR this morning they polled people coming out of McCain’s rally -telling them Powell endorsed Obama. Many of them were shocked, some of them were very saddened. The republicans can feel a loss coming, its in the air. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/133 "2008-10-20T16:11:16Z")
I hat to say it, but i lost all respect for Colin powell after his WOMD UN speech. i ACTUALLY belived him, when they showed the film clips (of the fake “bio-labs”, and the planes spraying bio weapons fogs). The man went along with the Buch-Cheney line, and never apoligized for it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/134 "2008-10-20T16:15:44Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > It’s not? [Obama: Powell will have a role in administration.](http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/20/obama1020.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab) Powell could just as easily have had a job in a McCain administration. For that matter, he could have had the Republican nomination for Prez. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/135 "2008-10-20T16:25:19Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I hat to say it, but i lost all respect for Colin powell after his WOMD UN speech. i ACTUALLY belived him, when they showed the film clips (of the fake “bio-labs”, and the planes spraying bio weapons fogs). The man went along with the Buch-Cheney line, and never apoligized for it. He didn’t apologise for it, but he has accepted that the premise for the war was faulty. In politico-speak, that’s about as close as anyone ever gets to an actual apology. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/136 "2008-10-20T16:27:10Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Powell could just as easily have had a job in a McCain administration. I’m not sure he could. McCain’s foreign policy advisors are dominated by the neocons and other aggressive nationalist-types, who already HATE Powell for getting in the way (however ineffectually) of Rumsfeld and Cheney back in the day. > [@](#): > > For that matter, he could have had the Republican nomination for Prez. Not in 2008. No domestic-policy base, and the most influential foreign-policy base in the party hates his guts. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/137 "2008-10-20T16:28:20Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Community organizer, lawyer, constitutional law professor, state legislator for several years, United States Senator. Palin: mayor of town of about 10,000, Governor of the Great State of Alaska for a short time, hockey mom hottie. Palin is a very big fish in a politically small pond, Obama is a big fish in a big pond. Palin got condemned for ethics _ **by her own party** _ for trying to get her brother-in-law fired.\* Obama has no ethics\* charges pending, nor criticism from within his own party. Experience here is not close for people who are not “in the tank” for Palin. "The Second Stone admitted today that “Obama has no ethics”. ## This concludes today’s Fox Broadcasting Journalism School spin lesson. Obama was also a Constitutional law professor for 12 years at the 7th highest ranked law school in the U.S. as well as editor of the Harvard Law Review, the most prestigious college publication in the nation. All of the people saying “Powell is voting for Obama because he’s black”, I would love to know- do you think that McCain would have chosen Palin if she looked like Rhea Perlman or even Kathy Bates? Also, what from Powell’s past suggests this (other than being born black [or actually biracial- both of his parents had Scots-Irish and English ancestry as well])? A specific incident please. (This is the man who after leaving the Bush Administration defended them on Katrina, saying that the fault was with the city for not preparing for the hurricane [a reasonable and understandable position] and has been called a “house boy” and worse by black activists (Harry Belafonte and Spike Lee among the more notable) for towing the party line. Now that he’s nearer the end of his life than the beginning and a multimillionaire yet supports a candidate who’s already pledged to increase taxes on the rich. Perhaps he wants his grandchildren to have an inheritance from him that’s not just money. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/138 "2008-10-20T16:41:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I’m not sure he could. McCain’s foreign policy advisors are dominated by the neocons and other aggressive nationalist-types, who already HATE Powell for getting in the way (however ineffectually) of Rumsfeld and Cheney back in the day. McCain sold out to the neocons and the Christian Right to win election, but that doesn’t mean his appointees would work that way, too. I highly doubt he’d plan for a second term if he won this one. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/139 "2008-10-20T16:42:35Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > The MSM is dancing around it, but everyone I’ve talked to about Powell’s endorsement is saying Powell did it because Obama is black. You need to talk to less-stupid people. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636/140 "2008-10-20T16:44:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > (This is the man who after leaving the Bush Administration defended them on Katrina, saying that the fault was with the city for not preparing for the hurricane [a reasonable and understandable position] and has been called a “house boy” and worse by black activists (Harry Belafonte and Spike Lee among the more notable) for towing the party line. He didn’t defend the Administration on Katrina; he was openly critical of the response. What he did do was steer the conversation from “Bush hates black people” to “Bush hates poor people”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/colin-powell-endorses-obama/468636.md?page=8)