Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has, if the stories are correct, been weighing mightily on whether or not to endorse Senator Barack Obama for President. Robert Novak, earlier in the summer, predicted he would "at the time of his choosing." He wouldn't be the first Republican pal of the Senator from Arizona to cross over as Chuck Hagel, a man of impeccable military credentials, is serving as wing-man for Obama's trip overseas. At issue is whether or not it would be a good idea to buck his political party, and whether or not to buck his friends, the McCains.
Elizabeth Bumiller's story in today's NYTimes about Obama's foreign policy cabinet -- numbering 300, minus Samantha Power -- mentions Powell, curiously:
"Another person who has contributed outside advice is former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, whom Mr. Obama has been wooing. Mr. Powell, a Republican, has a friendship of decades with Mr. McCain, but friends say he has felt excluded from Mr. McCain’s foreign policy operation and was impressed when Mr. Obama called on him in June. Mr. Powell also met around the same time with Mr. McCain."
Powell, formerly of President Bush's first cabinet, left his position at the end of 2004 after being on the losing end of a battle with the Vulcans over the Iraq War. Whether or not he formally endorses Obama, we cannot wait for his memoirs, and, to be sure, what they will say about his relationship with Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney. The story here.
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