Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard is reporting on FOX News that Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama for president, and may give a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Although disappointed to some extent, I'm not at all surprised. It's common knowledge that there's been bad blood between Powell and certain elements of the Republican Party for quite some time. He clearly feels little loyalty to his own party. At the same time, his policy preferences clearly comport more closely with those of Obama than with McCain. He's pro-choice. He supports Affirmative Action. He privately opposed the Iraq War. He opposed the Surge, and he at one point seemed to question the moral basis of the Global War on Terror. In addition to this, Powell is a staunch multilateralist. All of these positions are held strongly by Barack Obama.
Big news? Yes. Will it sway many votes? I doubt it. An endorsement by General Powell will certainly boost Obama's foreign policy standing, but do endorsements really mean that much? The American people understand that Barack Obama - should he be elected president - will be the one calling the shots and making the tough choices. Come November, a Powell nod will be a distant memory.
I still hold that in this increasingly turbulent world we live in, Americans will choose tried and true experience and gravitas (McCain) over a vacuous, inexperienced, waffling "community organizer"/activist, to be President and Commander in Chief.
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