Obama: Powell will have roll in administration
 

With or without a formal title, Colin Powell will have Barack Obama's ear if the Democratic presidential candidate wins the White House in the Nov. 4 election, the candidate said Monday.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/

Bringing back a Bush administration Cabinet member that most think has been out-performed by Condoleeza Rice is what counts as "change we can believe in"?

Of course he was also the National Security Advisor to Bush's daddy. That's not a Washington insider, is it? And if Biden is such a damn expert on foreign policy, why bring in someone whose only expertise is foreign policy who has disagreed with Biden on most everything?

Absolutely not in any way politics as usual, right?

I like Powell, he is a great asset to Obama and I hope that he will be utilized as such.

Obama knows his weaknesses. He is very smart to utilize Powell as an advisor. At least he isn't making us slap our foreheads and say, "what was he thinking?".

I think Powell was ineffective because he was an administration outsider -- unwilling to drink the kool aid. The split between himself and the Bush administration was less than amicable, I think.

Oh I like Powell as well, I just don't think saying this fits in with the "themes" of the Obama campaign very well.

I think it does, exactly because of what Kevin said. Powell didn't drink the kool-aid. He's not one of "them"

Powell was smart enough to call shenanigans when he saw them and Bush and Co. did not like that. Powell didn't care. I have more respect for someone who can stand on his own two feet and can stand for the right when called for. I respect Obama for choosing someone who has his own mind and is not afraid to challenge his "boss".

Good move, Sen. Obama!

I dont know bout THAT

Ok, he took a sip, but he spit it back out.

http://static.flickr.com/66/196050912_a20e19947b.jpg
Will he have mashed potatoes and chicken fingers too?

Actually Colin Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan.

PS I like both Colin Powell and Condi.

ETA: I find it interesting that John Negroponte was Colin Powell's deputy when he was NSA to Ronald Reagan. Actually, not interesting. Lets just say advisors tend to be recycled... a lot.

I don't know that I'd go that far either. He disagreed with the Bush administration on a number of things, but he anticipated being asked to stay on for at least part of the second term and according to his staff was planning to do so until Card (who was the President's chief of staff at the time) called him a few days after the reelection and told him the President would like to make a change at the position.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...092700106.html

I love my sister! But she meant THIS roll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4

Ahhh! You fixed my post! Thanks!

Well, at least we can put to rest those claims of Powell's support as a "low-risk, high-reward" timing-based move . . . oh.

Like I said, I respect Powell a lot, but that's just not an accurate portrayal of what happened. You can respect him for what kind of a man he is and his obvious understanding of foreign affairs, but he doesn't win any liberal points for standing up to the Bush administration. He was the man who showed the "theoretical anthrax" and said there was no doubt in his mind that Saddam had biological weapons in front of the UN and was the man tapped to try to put a coalition together in the Security Council. His only disagreement on Iraq was with Rumsfeld when he (Powell) said that we needed more troops.

He left the Cabinet when Bush requested his resignation so he could shuffle the Cabinet positions after reelection, not because there was some huge disagreement that he had with the rest of the White House.

Haha, seriously. The guy's a Washington insider, and a pretty smart one at that, so I give him credit for seeing the inevitable conclusion and jumping on before it was too late.

It's also low-risk, high-reward for Obama. Powell's beliefs are sufficiently moderate that bringing him on board won't cause much of a stir, but his resume could bring a voter or two. Again, I don't think it will have much of an effect in the polls (taking into account Obama's large lead and Powell's political views), but it certainly doesn't hurt.

Powell is awesome. I'm glad he will be an advisor to Obama. However, I don't think he said that just to get a job. People had be asking him for a while. I'm sure his endorsement swayed a few independent/undecided voters.