I'm sure the Obama campaign hopes this will quiet some of the concernss of people who think Obama may have weak foreign relations and military credentials, but I fear none of those people will be moved because they'll just figure, "Of course Powell endorsed him, they're both black."

Personally, I am very glad he endorsed him anyway. I think Powell's been incredibly unhappy with the way things have been going for a long time, with ideology trumping rationality.

Powell's endorsement of Obama is huge. It may help push some undecided independent voters towards Obama because of Powell's foreign policy experience and his role in the war in Iraq. Also his criticism's of McCain and the Republicans may help to further that decision by undecided voters, and it reinforces the decision of people who were just leaning Obama. The endorsement comes at the right time as well (although I wish he had done it before the third debate). it's not too early that people will forget and not too late to have any effect. Plus McCain is down in the polls and this is going to hurt him even more.

I'm excited for the most part. Many of my still undecided (?!?!) friends have stated before that they would vote for Powell because they trust him to make good decisions. They feel he's a true centerist. I think his endorsement will sway many of them towards Obama.

Of course, some people will also claim that this is just another example of black people sticking together, rathern than a sound policy-based endorsement. Then again, those who would suggest such probably wouldn't consider voting for Obama in the first place.

I agree, the GOP base never liked him but those few independents who are undecided will be swayed I think. I wouldn't mind Powell having a place in an Obama administration.

I think that every well-known and respected Republican who endorses Obama instead of McCain helps a little - although endorsements, in general, don't help that much except to put a positive story about your candidate in the headlines for a day.

I'm thrilled about this endorsement. I have always had a great deal of respect for Gen. Powell.

I was one of 100,000 in the crowd yesterday at St. Louis to hear Obama speak. I talked with a lot of people while we waited for the program to begin. No matter who I talked to yesterday and no matter what their racial background, the issue of race did not come up. Could it be that race isn't the factor in this race that we have feared? For those ready to elect an African-American president, race is a non-issue.

I honestly believe that those who will discount Powell's endorsement based solely on race either have an exceedingly low opinion of Powell's intelligence and service to this country (which is, of course, laughable for a 4-star general and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)or they have an exceedingly low opinion of the American public (to assume that we are all going to buy into the "black folks stick together no matter what" fallacy).

I think Powell jumped off the Bush ship and vowed to stay out of politics precisely because he is a man of integrity and couldn't bear to have his hard-won reputation tarnished by that buffoon in the White House. His endorsement of Obama seems a natural outgrowth of his past behavior. IMO, this endorsement means more than 20 endorsements by conservative newspapers.

Bravo, Gen. Powell! Welcome to the party.

Oh yeah, and anyone who is interested in seeing pics from the crowd yesterday, jump to my blog.

It was more honest and compassionate of an endorsement than I ever hoped.

He really didn't have to endorse anyone, particularly at this late moment in the game. I believe he really is speaking his conscience (as he did not in the build-up to the Iraq war). It's wonderful news!

i loved his speech.
L-O-V-E-D it.
It gave me chills. No joke.

I agree with the thoughts above: this is a big deal.

But in addition to the fact of the endorsement itself, the particular substance -- particular the comments about Americanism and Islam -- were like a long-overdue breath of fresh air.

The more involved this man is in American politics, the better the world will be.

I agree with this he is going to do a good job with helping obama since he has good points.

my mom was just jumping around and sayinf "How wonderful"! claiming that is the best news that she heard all day.

Holy. Cow. That was incredible. I love that he said the thing that nowhere near enough people have been saying and that Obama doesn't get to say: so what if he is a Muslim? Hot hot hot hot!

I'm excited about this because, though some people pointed out that they are both black, there is a large group of black conservatives that are still supporting John McCain.

Are they going to come over just because General Powell did? Maybe not, but it's a powerful statement that may help sway some conservatives.

It's got nothing to do with the fact that he's black, to me, and everything to do with the fact that he's a great conservative figure, like George Will and Christopher Hitchens, who is recognizing the absolutely lunacy of the McCain campaign and walking away.

The best quote of the interview by Colin Powell:

' "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? '

Aaronstack, I totally agree. That was the best part of his speech, as was the part just after that when he talked about the 20-year-old Muslim soldier who died in Iraq.

I don't think Powell's endorsement will help or hurt Obama. But I don't think it's possible not to have major respect for Gen. Colin Powell, no matter what your political leanings, and I hope people get to hear what he said today all this week in the media.. What he said leading to the endorsement meant more to me than the actual endorsement itself. Even though I'm a big lefty, I'm just as disappointed as General Powell with the direction the Republicans have taken this past decade or so.

'bout time--happy for the endorsement. Loved how he made his point about the muslim american solider.

Colin Powell is one of the few people affiliated with the Bush administration that I have always had respect for. I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that he has endorsed Obama!

THANK GOD that Colin Powell came along and said all that. He is a much needed voice of reason in a campaign season that is insane most of the time.

I'm sure that this will help Obama among independents, but I think this helps HUMANITY by reasoning us all back down to earth.

IT'S EMBARRASSING!

As much as I want Obama to win I don't think Powell's endorsement will help and in fact I find it to be nothing but embarrassing. So many of us have spent a lot of our life working against racism and her comes Powell being a racist.

How is he a racist? He says he didn't endorse Obama because he is black. If Powell's endorsement wasn't about race please name for me all of the other liberal politicians Powell has endorsed. He had endorsed many... always conservative.

This was all about race... sigh...

I think it's great. I recall mutterings after the first Gulf War that Powell could be the first serious black candidate for President, and as a Democrat I liked him enough to seriously consider voting for him. I've long suspected that his public support of the current fiasco in Iraq is mostly a public face -- a good military man following the Commander-in-Chief, a good Republican publicly supporting his party. But he's smart enough to have advised, behind closed doors, against getting into a war in Iraq. I think this is a sort of redemption for his involvement, if not in his mind, at least in mine.

ThinkingClearly, I think your wrong on this issue. Its possible that Colin Powell was happy to break step with an administration he is very clearly unhappy with. Perhaps he would have supported any democratic candidate this election season. I'm sort of irritated that you make this assumption and not respect the intelligence of a man that has worked in the military and politics for a long time. I think Chris Rock was right when he said that people believe when white people vote for Obama its because he speaks to their issues, when black people support him, its because he's black. Lets get past this sort of ignorance

I am very pleased to see Colin Powell endorse Obama. I think it's a great thing, and hopefully it will help sway some undecided voters.

One thing I am confused about though, this is the first I've heard of Colin Powell being a Republican. I've always heard that he's an Independent and a moderate.

ThinkingClearly (and all the conservatives saying the same thing): you're going to reduce the seven minutes of Powell's reasoned, eloquent articulation of his position to "he just said that because he's black" and then you're going to call HIM a racist? Wow, I didn't think it could be done but way to go, you did it.

Liz B. and Mariella, gotta love that if we're not white men, then we're not smart enough or logical enough to actually HAVE OPINIONS about the people we vote for - we must just be voting on shared identity.

Colin Powell gave enough reasons for his endorsement to fill a bathtub. To ignore his reasons and chalk it up to race is to dismiss him. Shame on anyone who does that.

His speech was incredibly eloquent. Perhaps after 8 years of Bush I just have low standards, but I found this speech especially moving and articulate. I am so happy that he brought up the "So what's wrong with being a Muslim?" question, and he did it well. So many just say "Of course Obama's not a Muslim" and leave it at that, but Powell takes the response to it's conclusion.

ThinkingClearly, Powell's speech amounted to a rejection of the Republican party, and the direction it's been moving in. Powell has broken with the party before, and has has expressed disappointment with it prior to this.

And what Liz B. and Mariella said.

ThinkingClearly, Powell's speech amounted to a rejection of the Republican party, and the direction it's been moving in. Powell has broken with the party before, and has expressed disappointment with it prior to this.

And what Liz B. and Mariella said.

It's a small bit of redemption for helping Bush get elected and then helping Bush get us into Iraq. Thank you Colin, keep up the good work, you've got a lot left to do. As for why he did it, Powell is a basically extinct brand of realist Republican in a party of unhinged neocon trash.

BTW 15 years ago Powell was part of the mutiny that defeated Bill Clinton's effort to allow gays to serve in the military. Just so you know.

As for the racist excuses, Wonkette dug them up: http://wonkette.com/403629/a-childrens-treasury-of-wingnut-responses-to-powell-endorsing-obama

Wonkette should of course add ThinkingClearly's comments to the list of racist stupidity.

Really, TC, do you think that the Idaho Statesman routinely endorses Democrats? Or just black ones? WF Buckley's kid? Have you read George Will or David Brooks' columns lately? Are they all racist in favor of Obama?

I hope you're lying about wanting Obama to win, because sharing a side with you would be what's EMBARRASSING.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/story/542582.html

Love the Wonkette link, aleks.

This is an interesting development since Powell was donating to McCain's campaign last year:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/09/powell-donates-to-mccain/

August 9, 2007

CNN has learned the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain received a check Wednesday from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, providing a symbolic boost to the Arizona Republican's struggling White House bid.

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker confirmed the contribution, telling CNN, "The Senator appreciates the support of General Powell." Powell's office did not return calls seeking comment.

According to a review of Federal Election Commission records, Powell has not donated to any other candidate this year.

While the McCain campaign would not be more specific about the contribution, a source familiar with the matter said the check totaled $2,300, the maximum an individual can give to any one candidate in the primary season, hinting at a likely endorsement in the future.

Am I the only one here so cynical as to fault Powell's careerism for his late endorsement? His powerful explanations aside -- and they are very, very powerful -- I suspect this is timed such that Powell might best revive the reputation that his Iraq warmongering helped tarnish.

The volume of revisionist history/biography that engulfs Mr. Powell is truly mind-boggling.

Rationality should indeed trump Ideology and this is why I am surfacing from my lurker position to remind everyone of, or introduce, Mr. Powell’s REAL history.

Mr. Powell was, at the time of his address to the UN in 2003, popularly, globally regarded as the “level head” in the Bush Administration, a true “bi-partisan”, a “centrist”, a distinguished military man – the man who would keep a calm, rational approach to foreign affairs and contain the bellicosity of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld.

That upon his endorsement of Obama he is still considered all of those things, while being as much a war criminal awash in innocent blood as anyone in the Bush Administration and others, seriously worries me.

Mr. Powell has a long history as a “bagman” for any Administration’s Wars/Pseudo-Wars/Special Ops he works for:
Nixon-Viet Nam, Reagan-Iran Contra, H.W. Bush-Panama, G.W. Bush-Iraq, to name but a few.

On a queer note, there is also Mr. Powell’s leading voice against B. Clinton’s pledge to open the military’s closet door. What we ended up with was “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and we all know how well that’s turned out…..

Chris Floyd (http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1632-the-bagman-cometh-obama-embraces-war-criminals-endorsement.html) at Empire Burlesque says it all so much more succinctly and eloquently than I can here and offers a link to Robert Perry’s “The Truth About Colin Powell”.

I urge anyone who is not familiar with Mr. Powell’s actual history to read these two pieces.

He wouldn't be the first high-profile Republican to "cross the aisle" and hopefully he won't be the last. My impression is that Colin Powell was always the "raindrop against the torrent" amongst the current and recent past Republican players--a true voice of reason.
I would truly love to get in his head and see the reasons he made this decision.
Was it the way his beloved soldiers were being used as political fodder?
Was it the way he saw others' rights being eroded?
Was it the far right-wing rhetoric that threatened to make our nation appear as a group of fundamentalist reactionaries?

If race did play a role, I'm guessing it was about 1-2% of the decision. Seriously, did he need that as another reason? There's so many to choose from!

As others wrote above, hopefully this will start the stampede.

Well Powell is nothing but a tool and I lost all respect for him long ago. Still, for those who actually think he stands for or means something, it's a good thing, I suppose. And he made some excellent points during his endorsement, such as that it shouldn't even MATTER whether Obama is Christian or Muslim in the first place.

But the man is still a tool, and I personally couldn't care less about it.

Thank you, SargassoSea.

While I agree with the commentors here that he gave a great speech in his endorsement for Obama (particularly when he countered the Muslim accusations - that was a thing of beauty)and I certainly DO NOT believe he endorsed Obama because they are both black, it is also important to remember the damage he's helped heap on this country and it's military. I would not be happy if Obama offered him an appointment after his election because Powell's endorsement alone is not enough for me to forget.

Of course Powell endorsed Obama.

They both believe in wars of aggression.

Quote from Obama's Web site,"Obama will responsibly end the war in Iraq and focus on the right battlefield in Afghanistan."

All of you Obama supporters, get a rifle and go fight Afghanistan if you love Obama so much.

Outwrong, who are you supporting that will end the war in Afghanistan?

Not to speak for Outwrong, but there is indeed a true progressive candidate who pledges to end the war in Iraq, Afganistan and all the other acts of aggression the US is perpetrating across the globe.

From the campaign platform:
"We need a Department of Peace that would put forward projects for peace all over the world. We should deploy our diplomats to help resolve conflicts through peaceful means. In the meantime, the Pentagon must oversee the orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from the more than 100 countries around the world where they are stationed. We should deploy our Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild infrastructures and communities here and abroad..."
The Green Party
Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente

And that's just the beginning. There's no telling what 2 women of color could accomplish :)

I can tell you before the polls even open in most states what the Green Party can accomplish. Hand a close election to the Republican, and spend the next eight years claiming that the Democrat would have been just as bad.